A New Ring Current Model for Saturn

The ring current of Saturn is obtained by taking the curl of the observed magnetic field. An analytical model of this ring current can then be obtained by fitting it to a lognormal in ρ and a Gaussian in z. Local time dependence is included as a harmonic expansion in ϕ for coefficients of the lognormal; radial dependence is included as a quadratic expansion in ρ of the width of the Gaussian. In this model, the ring current peaks at ~0.25 MA/RS2 at ~10 RS on the nightside near ~1 hr. The ring current strength minimizes at ~0.17 MA/RS2 on the dayside near ~16 hr. The cross‐sectional shape of the ring current is a teardrop extending from ~5 to ~20 RS or more.