MESSENGER observations of large flux transfer events at Mercury

Slavin, J. A.; Lepping, R. P.; Wu, Chien-Sheng; Anderson, B. J.; Baker, D. N.; Benna, M.; Boardsen, S. A.; Killen, R. M.; Korth, H.; Krimigis, S. M.; McClintock, W. E.; McNutt, R. L.; Sarantos, M.; Schriver, D.; Solomon, Sean C.; Trávníček, Pavel; Zurbuchen, T. H.

doi:10.1029/2009gl041485

Cited by 59 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Further, relative loading and unloading variation in tail energy content observed by MESSENGER at Mercury was an order of magnitude larger than at Earth implying that the relative energy release in substorms at Mercury must be large compared to terrestrial substorms. The high rate of reconnection inferred from the large magnetopause-normal magnetic fields seen during MESSENGER's second flyby (5) and the large the flux transfer events observed just outside Mercury's magnetopause (25) by MESSENGER during its earlier flybys (5) ( 26,27), and the observations strong tail loading/unloading and plasmoid ejection reported here, make the lack of energetic particles with energies above 36 keV in the MESSENGER observations ( 28) is even more surprising. The production of energetic particle acceleration events at Mercury, …”

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confidence: 72%

MESSENGER Observations of Extreme Loading and Unloading of Mercury’s Magnetic Tail

Slavin

Anderson

Baker

et al. 2010

Science

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MESSENGER's Third Set of Messages MESSENGER, the spacecraft en route to insertion into orbit about Mercury in March 2011, completed its third flyby of the planet on 29 September 2009. Prockter et al. (p. 668 , published online 15 July) present imaging data acquired during this flyby, showing that volcanism on Mercury has extended to much more recent times than previously assumed. The temporal extent of volcanic activity and, in particular, the timing of most recent activity had been missing ingredients in the understanding of Mercury's global thermal evolution. Slavin et al. (p. 665 , published online 15 July) report on magnetic field measurements made during the 29 September flyby, when Mercury's magnetosphere underwent extremely strong coupling with the solar wind. The planet's tail magnetic field increased and then decreased by factors of 2 to 3.5 during periods lasting 2 to 3 minutes. These observations suggest that magnetic open flux loads the magnetosphere, which is subsequently unloaded by substorms—magnetic disturbances during which energy is rapidly released in the magnetotail. At Earth, changes in tail magnetic field intensity during the loading/unloading cycle are much smaller and occur on much longer time scales. Vervack et al. (p. 672 , published online 15 July) used the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer onboard MESSENGER to make measurements of Mercury's neutral and ion exospheres. Differences in the altitude profiles of magnesium, calcium, and sodium over the north and south poles of Mercury indicate that multiple processes are at play to create and maintain the exosphere.

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confidence: 72%

MESSENGER Observations of Extreme Loading and Unloading of Mercury’s Magnetic Tail

Slavin

Anderson

Baker

et al. 2010

Science

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175

238

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“…The open flux rope continuously provides a channel for transport of flux and plasmas across the magnetopause; while the closed‐field structures, converted from the open structures, may make significant contributions to the formation of the low latitude boundary layer on closed geomagnetic field lines [ Boudouridis et al ., ]. We suppose that such complex magnetic field topologies inside the flux ropes via MSXR might also appear in reconnection processes in the interplanetary current sheet [ Moldwin et al ., ; Ruan et al ., ], and in other planetary magnetospheres [ Huddleston et al ., ; Russell and Walker , ; Slavin et al ., ; Walker and Russell , ], where in situ measurements are not as many as in the terrestrial case.…”

Section: Discussion and Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Three‐dimensional magnetic flux rope structure formed by multiple sequential X‐line reconnection at the magnetopause

Zhong

Dunlop

et al. 2013

JGR Space Physics

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Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions duringSubstorms spacecraft observed a flux transfer event (FTE) on the dayside magnetopause, which has been previously proved to be generated by multiple, sequential X-line reconnection (MSXR) in a 2-D context. This paper reports a further study of the MSXR event to show the 3-D viewpoint based on additional measurements. The 3-D structure of the FTE flux rope across the magnetospheric boundary is obtained on the basis of multipoint measurements taken on both sides of the magnetopause. The flux rope's azimuthally extended section is found to lie approximately on the magnetopause surface and parallel to the X-line direction; while the axis of the magnetospheric branch is essentially along the local unperturbed magnetospheric field lines. In the central region of the flux rope, as distinct from the traditional viewpoint, we find from the electron distributions that two types of magnetic field topology coexist: opened magnetic field lines connecting the magnetosphere and the magnetosheath and closed field lines connecting the Southern and Northern hemispheres. We confirm, therefore, for the first time, the characteristic feature of the 3-D reconnected magnetic flux rope, formed through MSXR, through a determination of the field topology and the plasma distributions within the flux rope. Knowledge of the complex geometry of FTE flux ropes will improve our understanding of solar wind-magnetosphere interaction.Citation: Zhong, J., et al. (2013), Three-dimensional magnetic flux rope structure formed by multiple sequential X-line reconnection at the magnetopause,

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“…Indeed, MESSENGER observations have revealed that Mercury's magnetosphere is dominated by the effects of reconnection (e.g., Slavin et al, , ). Reconnection signatures have been found throughout Mercury's magnetosphere in various forms, such as flux transfer events at the magnetopause (Imber et al, ; Slavin, Imber, et al,), plasmoids (DiBraccio et al, ; Slavin et al, ; Sun et al, ), and dipolarization fronts (Sun et al, ; Sundberg et al, ) in the tail and traveling compression regions in the tail lobes (Slavin, Anderson, et al,). Based on MESSENGER measurements from a number of dayside magnetopause crossings, DiBraccio et al () found that reconnection at Mercury's magnetopause can occur under a wide range of magnetic shear conditions and at higher rates than typically observed at Earth's magnetopause for the same shear angle.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

MESSENGER Observations and Global Simulations of Highly Compressed Magnetosphere Events at Mercury

et al. 2019

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We identify and examine all MErcury Surface Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) crossings of Mercury's dayside magnetopause with magnetospheric field intensities ≥300 nT. The eight such events, which occurred under highly compressed magnetosphere conditions, are analyzed in the identical manner utilized by Slavin et al. (2014, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JA020319). The results suggest that the eight highly compressed magnetosphere events represent the highest solar wind dynamic pressures for which the MESSENGER's orbit still passed below the magnetopause and provided measurements of the dayside magnetosphere. Using the magnetohydrodynamic model by Jia et al. (2015, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JA021143) that electromagnetically couples Mercury's interior with its magnetosphere, a series of global simulations are conducted to quantitatively characterize the response of Mercury's magnetosphere to solar wind forcing. Combining the MESSENGER observations with the simulations, we have obtained a consistent picture of how Mercury's dayside magnetospheric configuration is controlled, separately and in combination, by induction‐driven shielding and reconnection‐driven erosion. For solar wind pressures of ∼40–90 nPa, compared with the average ∼10–15 nPa at Mercury's orbit, the shielding effects of induction in Mercury's core in standing‐off the solar wind typically exceed the erosion of the dayside magnetosphere due to reconnection for these events, most of which occurred under low magnetic shear conditions. For high magnetic shear across the magnetopause our simulation predicts that reconnection would dominate. Mercury's effective magnetic moment as inferred from magnetopause standoff distance ranges from 170 to 250 nT−RM3 for these events. These findings are of crucial importance for understanding the space weathering at Mercury and its contribution to the generation of Mercury's exosphere.

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MESSENGER observations of large flux transfer events at Mercury

Cited by 59 publications

References 22 publications

MESSENGER Observations of Extreme Loading and Unloading of Mercury’s Magnetic Tail

MESSENGER Observations of Extreme Loading and Unloading of Mercury’s Magnetic Tail

Three‐dimensional magnetic flux rope structure formed by multiple sequential X‐line reconnection at the magnetopause

MESSENGER Observations and Global Simulations of Highly Compressed Magnetosphere Events at Mercury

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