On the momentum transfer of the solar wind to the Martian topside ionosphere

Details On the momentum transfer of the solar wind to the Martian topside ionosphere On the momentum transfer of the solar wind to the Martian topside ionosphere

Jun 1991

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991georl..18.1059l&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters (ISSN 0094-8276), vol. 18, June 1991, p. 1059-1062. Research supported by Swedish Board for Space A

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54

Mars Atmosphere, Momentum Transfer, Planetary Ionospheres, Solar Wind, Dynamo Theory, High Temperature Plasmas, Magnetohydrodynamics, Planetary Boundary Layer

Scientific paper

Two types of acceleration processes for 'magnetopause' ions of Martian origin are proposed: one similar to that acting within the earth's auroral acceleration region, and the other a pickup process acting within a limited spatial region. The automatic space plasma experiment on the Soviet Phobos spacecraft amassed data around Mars in nonscanning modes. The three-dimensional plasma moments were deduced from the two-dimensional moments by assuming azimuthal symmetry. It is demonstrated that the solar wind interacts with the 'cold' plasma in the Martian topside ionosphere in a way that resembles that of a comet. It is suggested that the topside atmosphere and ionosphere of Mars must extend quite far out and interact with the solar wind within a large altitude range, even outside the bow-shock, and that the extended Martian atmosphere makes the planet vulnerable to solar wind interaction, the solar wind being capable of dehydrating Mars on cosmogonic time scales.

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