Physics
Scientific paper
Oct 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010georl..3720204g&link_type=abstract
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 37, Issue 20, CiteID L20204
Physics
2
Geomagnetism And Paleomagnetism: Dynamo: Theories And Simulations, Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Mercury, Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Magnetic Fields And Magnetism, Magnetospheric Physics: Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, Geomagnetism And Paleomagnetism: Satellite Magnetics: Main Field, Crustal Field, External Field
Scientific paper
The internal magnetic field of Mercury is anomalously weak compared with the fields of other solar system dynamos. Here we investigate the effect that magnetospheric currents may have on the internal dynamo process. Although strong dipolar dynamos are not markedly affected by such magnetospheric currents, a dynamo in a weak-dipole state can be stabilized in such a configuration by magnetospheric feedback. We suggest that Mercury's core dynamo was stabilized in a weak-field state early in Mercury's history, when the solar wind was much stronger than today, and has been maintained in that state to the present by magnetospheric feedback. A prediction of this scenario is that secular variation should occur more rapidly for Mercury's internal field than would be expected for some other models for the planet's weak field.
Gomez-Perez Natalia
Solomon Sean C.
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