The Space Environment of Mercury: Solar Wind and IMF Modeling of Upstream Conditions

Details The Space Environment of Mercury: Solar Wind and IMF Modeling of Upstream Conditions The Space Environment of Mercury: Solar Wind and IMF Modeling of Upstream Conditions

May 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agusm.u24a..07b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #U24A-07

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2134 Interplanetary Magnetic Fields, 2164 Solar Wind Plasma, 5443 Magnetospheres (2756), 6235 Mercury

Scientific paper

The first Mercury flyby on 14 January 2008 by the MESSENGER spacecraft has re-intensified interest in the solar wind interaction with Mercury's miniature (Earth-like) magnetosphere and extensive planetary exosphere. In order to provide a broad knowledge of the solar wind properties and also some estimate of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) near Mercury we have used an empirical modeling technique combined with a physics-based solar wind model. The empirical technique is based on the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA) method that uses solar photospheric magnetic field observations (from Earth-based instruments) in order to estimate inner heliospheric boundary conditions at about 10 solar radii. This information is then used as inputs to the global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model, ENLIL, which calculates solar wind velocity, density, temperature, and magnetic field strength throughout the inner heliosphere, In this presentation we show WSA-ENLIL conditions computed for the period around the Mercury flyby. This information is used in conjunction with MESSENGER magnetometer, plasma, ultraviolet spectrometer, and other sensor data to understand the context of the Mercury flyby results. Such in situ data can also be used iteratively to improve the model accuracy for inner heliospheric "space weather" purposes. More generally we discuss how we can estimate relatively continuously the solar wind properties near Mercury and at the cruise location of MESSENGER now, for future flybys, and toward the time of spacecraft orbit insertion in 2011.

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