Impacts of Solar Flares on Mars Radar Sounders during summer of 2011

Computer Science – Sound

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[5400] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets

Scientific paper

During June and July 2011 there has been a significant increase of solar activity, characterized by prominent solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). This paper will focus on the effects due to radiation storms on the Martian atmosphere through the analysis of scientific data acquired by two interplanetary radar sounders orbiting around Mars: MARSIS and SHARAD. On June 7th, 2011, the Sun unleashed an M-2 solar flare, an S1-class radiation storm and a spectacular CME coming from sunspot complex AR1226-1227. The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observed the flare's peak at 06:41 UTC. On July 30th, at 02:09 UTC, an M-9 flare occurs from sunspot AR1261 and the blast almost crossed the threshold into X-class flares with an extreme ultraviolet flash, the most powerful recorded by the NASA's SDO. Even if the first solar flare had a lower intensity w.r.t. the latter, it was mainly directed towards Mars. The effects due to the solar flare on SHARAD sounder behaviour were impressive, because for two terrestrial days the instrument was totally blinded by the exceptionally enhanced ionization of the Martian ionosphere. A wide series of radargrams and frequency analyses show the situation before and during the solar flare. Preliminary analyses show very high values of plasma cut frequencies, roughly estimated in the order of 12 MHz or more (typical nominal values are about 4.8 MHz or less). Results of further detailed analyses will be provided in this paper, also taking into account the behaviour of the Martian sounders in the upcoming period.

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