Response of Saturnʹs ionosphere to solar radiation: Testing parameterizations for thermal electron heating and secondary ionization processes

We evaluate the effectiveness of two parameterizations in Saturnʹs ionosphere over a range of solar fluxes, seasons, and latitudes. First, the parameterization of the thermal electron heating rate, Q*e, introduced in [Moore, L., Galand, M., Mueller-Wodarg, I., Yelle, R.V., Mendillo, M., 2008. Plasma temperatures in Saturnʹs ionosphere. J. Geophys. Res. 113, A10306. doi:10.1029/2008JA013373.] for one specific set of conditions, is found to produce ion and electron temperatures that agree with self-consistent suprathermal electron calculations to within 2% on average under all conditions considered. Next, we develop a new parameterization of the secondary ion production rate at Saturn based on the calculations of [Galand, M., Moore, L., Mueller-Wodarg, I., Mendillo, M., 2009. Modeling the photoelectron secondary ionization process at Saturn. accepted. J. Geophys. Res.]; it is found to be accurate to within 4% on average. The demonstrated effectiveness of these two parameterizations over a wide range of input conditions makes them good candidates for inclusion in 3D Saturn thermosphere–ionosphere general circulation models (TIGCMs).