Plasma boundaries at Mars discovered by the PHOBOS 2 magnetometers

Details Plasma boundaries at Mars discovered by the PHOBOS 2 magnetometers Plasma boundaries at Mars discovered by the PHOBOS 2 magnetometers

Oct 1990

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990angeo...8..661s&link_type=abstract

Annales Geophysicae (ISSN 0992-7689), vol. 8, Oct. 1990, p. 661-670.

Physics

9

Boundary Layer Plasmas, Magnetometers, Mars Atmosphere, Planetary Magnetic Fields, Planetary Magnetospheres, Lorentz Force, Oxygen Ions, Planetary Ionospheres, Planetary Surfaces, Plasmasphere, Solar Wind

Scientific paper

The magnetic field measurements by the magnetometers FGMM and MAGMA on board the spacecraft Phobos 2 during its four elliptical orbits around Mars have been analyzed. Besides the bow shock, measured already at earlier missions, three additional plasma boundaries have been discovered: planetopause (PP), magnetopause (MP), and eclipse boundary. At the first boundary behind the bow shock, called planetopause, the magnetic field changes its character from a strongly fluctuating one to a more quiescent state. As seen in the TAUS and ASPERA plasma measurements, the density of the solar wind protons decreases rapidly at the PP, whereas the oxygen ion density sharply increases there. This boundary is interpreted as a multiple-ion contact discontinuity where the lighter ions (protons) are deflected by the Lorentz force arising from the relative motion between both ion fluids. The magnetic field itself penetrates the PP. The formation of two separate boundaries (PP and MP) behind the bow shock seems to be a general feature of the interaction of the solar wind with a weakly magnetized planetary ionosphere.

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