The electromagnetic pickup of submicron-sized dust above Enceladus’s northern hemisphere

As the saturnian magnetoplasma sweeps past Enceladus, it experiences both a decrease in electron content and sharp slowdown in the northern hemisphere region within ∼5 Enceladus Radii (Re). This slowdown is observed by Cassini in regions not obviously associated with the southern directed plume-originating ions. We suggest herein that the decrease in northern hemisphere electron content and plasma slowdown could both be related to the presence of fine dust grains that are being accelerated by the Lorentz force created within the saturnian magnetic field system.