Abstract
The unique combination of a rapidly rotating ionosphere and meteoroid impact ionization at the rings of Saturn provides the elements of many interesting plasma transport phenomena. One of the most significant processes might be the upward field‐aligned flow of the impact plasma at the equatorial region inside 1.6252 Rs. Such a siphoning mechanism limits the efficiency of ring plane matter recycling to a minimum and could lead to appreciable loss of ring mass in this region. At the same time, channeling of the heavy ions into the mid‐altitude ionosphere could also cause a large reduction in the ionospheric electron content as observed by the Pioneer 11 and the Voyager radio science experiments. The resulting electrodynamical coupling of the Saturnian rings with the ionosphere thus represents a completely new kind of ionospheric process than studied before.
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