Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsh43a1811b&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SH43A-1811
Physics
[5421] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Interactions With Particles And Fields, [6225] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mars, [7900] Space Weather
Scientific paper
Space weather events in the form of solar photons and energetic charged particles provide brief but relatively intense periods of energy input to the Martian plasma environment and atmosphere, with implications for a number of science and exploration-related issues. The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft orbited Mars for more than 9 years, and was capable of indirectly detecting space weather events and their effects. Shocks associated with passing coronal mass ejections are evident in MGS magnetometer data, and in proxies for upstream solar wind pressure at 1.5 AU derived from magnetometer measurements. Fluxes of solar energetic particles with energies greater than ˜30 MeV are sometimes evident in the background count rates of the MGS electron instrument. Measurements of the background count rates at altitudes of ˜400 km over a seven year period provide an unprecedented long-baseline data set of the energetic particle environment at Mars over a significant fraction of a solar cycle. We will present results of analyses pertaining to three main uses of MGS observations of solar storms. First, by combining MGS measurements of solar storms with terrestrial and solar measurements, we have analyzed the propagation of individual solar storm events from the Sun throughout the inner heliosphere. Next, we have used MGS particle and field measurements to study the effect of solar storms on the Martian plasma environment - including increased fluxes of 10-20 keV electrons close to the planet and influences on auroral activity. Finally, we have studied the influence of solar storms on the Martian upper atmosphere - including suprathermal electrons produced in the atmosphere via impact ionization and a correlation of solar storm periods with ionospheric electron density profiles.
Brain David Andrew
Delory Gregory T.
Falkenberg T. V.
Lillis Robert J.
Luhmann Janet G.
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