Fundamental Plasma Physics in the Martian Magnetotail and Boundary Layer

Details Fundamental Plasma Physics in the Martian Magnetotail and Boundary Layer Fundamental Plasma Physics in the Martian Magnetotail and Boundary Layer

May 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agusm.p33b..06h&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2009, abstract #P33B-06

Physics

Plasma Physics

2723 Magnetic Reconnection (7526, 7835), 2752 Mhd Waves And Instabilities (2149, 6050, 7836), 2756 Planetary Magnetospheres (5443, 5737, 6033), 2780 Solar Wind Interactions With Unmagnetized Bodies, 6225 Mars

Scientific paper

We expect many of the same plasma physics processes observed in the terrestrial magnetosphere, including collisionless reconnection and viscous boundary layer processes, to also operate in other planetary environments. We now present observations from Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) that may provide evidence for the occurrence of these processes around Mars. While MGS lacks the full plasma instrumentation and multi- point measurements that have proven crucial in understanding these processes at the Earth, it does have magnetic field and electron measurements from the Magnetometer/Electron Reflectometer instrument. We discuss MAG/ER observations of flux ropes, bipolar magnetic field signatures, and field-aligned electron flows possibly indicative of reconnection in the Martian magnetotail current sheet. We also describe quasi-periodic fluctuations in electron flux and magnetic field above the Martian dayside suggestive of boundary layer processes such as the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Magnetotail and boundary layer processes such as these may contribute to the loss of ionized planetary gases from the Martian atmosphere, one of the primary science goals of the MAVEN Mars Scout mission currently in development.

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