Mechanisms for IMF penetration into the ionosphere of Mars and Venus

Details Mechanisms for IMF penetration into the ionosphere of Mars and Venus Mechanisms for IMF penetration into the ionosphere of Mars and Venus

Dec 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agufmsa51a0761j&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2001, abstract #SA51A-0761

Physics

2437 Ionospheric Dynamics, 2780 Solar Wind Interactions With Unmagnetized Bodies, 6225 Mars, 6295 Venus, 7843 Numerical Simulation Studies

Scientific paper

Since Mars and Venus do not have a global intrinsic magnetic field, unlike the earth, the solar wind directly interacts with the ionosphere of these planets. PVO (Pioneer Venus Orbiter) discovered that the IMF sometimes penetrates into the Venus ionosphere and recently MGS (Mars Global Surveyor) also observed the IMF penetration into the Martian ionosphere. The IMF forms both large-scale and small-scale fields in these ionospheres. The large-scale field in the ionosphere is one of the major features on both planets. It is related to the transfer of solar wind momentum and energy to the ionosphere, and may probably have significant effects on the ionospheric structures such as plasma density, flows, ion composition and so on. The large-scale field also affects dynamics of ionospheric plasma, so that even the amount of atmospheric escape flux may be influenced by it. The mechanism responsible for the IMF penetration into the ionosphere is, however, still not clear. According to the PVO observation, it is when dynamic pressure of the solar wind exceeds thermal pressure of the ionosphere that the large-scale field is observed in the ionosphere. During that time, the ionopause descends and thickens. Therefore, we can expect that the IMF penetration may be related to photochemical reactions and/or magnetic dissipation due to collisions among charged particles and between charged particles and neutrals in the lower ionosphere. We discuss the IMF penetration mechanisms that include these effects, by using a multi-species MHD model.

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