Ion-cyclotron wave generation by planetary ion pickup

Ion-cyclotron waves play important roles in planetary magnetospheres and are diagnostic of the processes operating in the magnetosphere and of the composition of the plasma producing the waves. At Jupiter, Io's exosphere interacts with the corotating magnetospheric plasma. At Saturn, the neutral torus around the E ring interacts with the corotating plasma. At the unmagnetized planets, Mars and Venus, the interaction is between the solar-wind flow and the planetary exosphere. A possible analog of these processes exists in the vicinity of the Earth's polar cusp where the shocked solar-wind plasma penetrates the Earth's exosphere. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.