The solar wind interaction with Mars: Locations and shapes of the bow shock and the magnetic pile‐up boundary from the observations of the MAG/ER Experiment onboard Mars Global Surveyor

Vignes, D.; Mazelle, C.; Rme, H.; Acuña, M. H.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Lin, R. P.; Mitchell, David; Cloutier, P. A.; Crider, D. H.; Ness, N. F.

doi:10.1029/1999gl010703

Cited by 316 publications

(516 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

473

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Indeed, as shown in the top panel of Fig. 4, the discontinuity in the predicted SWCX emission in the model is consistent with the average position of the MBS as measured by the MGS (Vignes et al 2000). However, while the MGS-inferred MBS is axisymmetric around the Sun-Mars axis, the crescent-like structure of the modeled emission is asymmetric, owing to the influence of the motional electric field.…”

Section: Emission Morphologysupporting

confidence: 58%

“…4 we present the projected map of the total power flux (W m −2 sr −1 ) for the spectral lines included between 0.3 and 0.9 keV. The white curve superimposed on the A153, page 4 of 10 map represents the average position of the MBS in the same projection as the XMM observations as inferred from the Mars Global Surveyor measurements (Vignes et al 2000). In the middle panel of Fig.…”

Section: Emission Morphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Solar wind charge exchange X-ray emission from Mars

Koutroumpa¹,

Modolo²,

Chanteur³

et al. 2012

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aims. We study the soft X-ray emission induced by charge exchange (CX) collisions between solar-wind, highly charged ions and neutral atoms of the Martian exosphere. Methods. A 3D multispecies hybrid simulation model with improved spatial resolution (130 km) is used to describe the interaction between the solar wind and the Martian neutrals. We calculated velocity and density distributions of the solar wind plasma in the Martian environment with realistic planetary ions description, using spherically symmetric exospheric H and O profiles. Following that, a 3D test-particle model was developed to compute the X-ray emission produced by CX collisions between neutrals and solar wind minor ions. The model results are compared to XMM-Newton observations of Mars. Results. We calculate projected X-ray emission maps for the XMM-Newton observing conditions and demonstrate how the X-ray emission reflects the Martian electromagnetic structure in accordance with the observed X-ray images. Our maps confirm that X-ray images are a powerful tool for the study of solar wind-planetary interfaces. However, the simulation results reveal several quantitative discrepancies compared to the observations. Typical solar wind and neutral coronae conditions corresponding to the 2003 observation period of Mars cannot reproduce the high luminosity or the corresponding very extended halo observed with XMM-Newton. Potential explanations of these discrepancies are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Emission Morphologysupporting

confidence: 58%

Section: Emission Morphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar wind charge exchange X-ray emission from Mars

Koutroumpa¹,

Modolo²,

Chanteur³

et al. 2012

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…[6] Our earlier calculations [Ma et al, 2004] showed that our model agrees very well with the ionospheric results from Viking [Hanson et al, 1977], as well as the bow shock positions observations by Phobos and Mars Global Surveyor observations [Vignes et al, 2000]. This gives us confidence to use our improved model to undertake a set of calculations to estimate escaping ion fluxes from Mars, resulting from ionospheric flows as well as charge exchange ionization processes.…”

Section: Modeling Detailsmentioning

confidence: 69%

Ion escape fluxes from Mars

Nagy

2007

Geophysical Research Letters

111

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

[1] A 3D, multi-species, non-ideal MHD numerical code was used to calculate the ion escape fluxes from Mars. The calculations were carried out for six cases with different nominal solar wind, solar cycle and crustal field orientation conditions and the total escape fluxes (the sum of the three major ionospheric species, O + , O 2 + , and CO 2 + ) varied by about an order of magnitude from 2.7 Â 10 23 to 2.4 Â 10 24 sec À1 . These results were compared to the recently measured Mars Express results of 3.2 Â 10 23 sec À1 (O + , O 2 + , and CO 2 + ), which were obtained near solar cycle minimum conditions, indicating a good agreement between measured and calculated fluxes. We also calculated the escape flux for ''extremely'' high solar wind conditions which leads to a flux of 3 Â 10 25 sec À1 .

show abstract

“…This boundary separates the solar wind protons from the planetary ions (Sauer et al, 1990;Breus et al, 1991;Sauer et al, 1994). The magnetic pile-up boundary at Mars has been observed between the bow shock and the ionopause by both Mars Global Surveyor and the Phobos-2 MAGMA instrument (Riedler et al, 1991;Vignes et al, 2000). A detailed discussion of the Martian plasma boundaries, especially of the MPB, has been given by Nagy et al (2004) who summarize the data obtained by MGS and Phobos 2.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast to the terminology used in this paper, Lundin et al (2004) called this boundary induced magnetosphere boundary (IMB). They used this definition of the IMB due to the lack of magnetic field instruments aboard Mars Express, avoiding conflicts with defined features such as the magnetic pile-up boundary (Vignes et al, 2000). Based on their analysis of MGS magnetic field data, Bertucci et al (2004) identify a significant magnetic field enhancement near the MPB.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physics of the Ion Composition Boundary: a comparative 3-D hybrid simulation study of Mars and Titan

et al. 2007

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The plasma environments of Mars and Titan have been studied by means of a 3-D hybrid simulation code, treating the electrons as a massless, charge-neutralizing fluid, whereas ion dynamics are covered by a kinetic approach. As neither Mars nor Titan possesses a significant intrinsic magnetic field, the upstream plasma flow interacts directly with the planetary ionosphere. The characteristic features of the interaction region are determined as a function of the alfvénic, sonic and magnetosonic Mach number of the impinging plasma. For the Martian interaction with the solar wind as well as for the case of Titan being located outside Saturn's magnetosphere in times of high solar wind dynamic pressure, all three Mach numbers are larger than 1. In such a scenario, the interaction gives rise to a so-called Ion Composition Boundary, separating the ionospheric plasma from the ambient flow and being highly asymmetric with respect to the direction of the convective electric field. The formation of these features is explained by analyzing the Lorentz forces acting on ionospheric and ambient plasma particles. Titan's plasma environment is highly variable and allows various different combinations of the three Mach numbers. Therefore, the Ion Composition Boundary may vanish under certain circumstances. The relevant physical mechanism is illustrated as a function of the Mach numbers in the upstream plasma flow.

show abstract

The solar wind interaction with Mars: Locations and shapes of the bow shock and the magnetic pile‐up boundary from the observations of the MAG/ER Experiment onboard Mars Global Surveyor

Cited by 316 publications

References 12 publications

Solar wind charge exchange X-ray emission from Mars

Solar wind charge exchange X-ray emission from Mars

Ion escape fluxes from Mars

Physics of the Ion Composition Boundary: a comparative 3-D hybrid simulation study of Mars and Titan

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About