Effects of Solar Energetic Particle Events on the Martian Surface and Atmosphere

Details Effects of Solar Energetic Particle Events on the Martian Surface and Atmosphere Effects of Solar Energetic Particle Events on the Martian Surface and Atmosphere

Dec 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004agufmsh53c..04l&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2004, abstract #SH53C-04

Physics

5421 Interactions With Particles And Fields, 6225 Mars, 2118 Energetic Particles, Solar

Scientific paper

Characterization of the Martian radiation environment is a major objective identified by MEPAG in preparation for human exploration of Mars, and includes both determination of the ionizing radiation environment at the surface, and the shielding properties of the Martian atmosphere. Solar energetic charged particles (SEPs) provide an important component of ionizing radiation at Mars, especially during periods of high solar activity. Further, SEP events affect the Martian atmosphere at all altitudes, contributing to increased levels of atmospheric heating and loss. In this work we trace trajectories of test particles subject to interaction with Mars' neutral atmosphere and crustal magnetic fields. We show the penetration depth through the Martian atmosphere as a function of energy and incidence angle for energetic protons, and show that crustal magnetic fields affect SEP energy deposition in the atmosphere. We will provide estimates of the primary proton surface flux and energy deposition for a single large SEP event, such as the one observed in late October of 2003, showing that SEP surface effects exceed those from galactic cosmic rays by an order of magnitude or more during this event. Finally, we will discuss intriguing observations by the electron reflectometer (ER) on the Mars Global Surveyor Spacecraft (MGS) that show a geographic dependence of high energy particles observed during SEP events.

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