Sodium and magnesium neutral and ion species at Mercury: Simulations and comparison to MESSENGER observations

Details Sodium and magnesium neutral and ion species at Mercury: Simulations and comparison to MESSENGER observations Sodium and magnesium neutral and ion species at Mercury: Simulations and comparison to MESSENGER observations

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p21a1209s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P21A-1209

Physics

[5405] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Atmospheres, [5443] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Magnetospheres

Scientific paper

The unique two-point measurements of neutrals and ions at Mercury, obtained by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its 14 January and 6 October 2008 Mercury flybys, provide the first opportunity to constrain the transport of heavy ions in this reconnecting magnetosphere. Models of exospheric transport and of ion circulation of two major species, sodium and magnesium, are combined with MESSENGER observations to investigate the effect of planetary ions on the properties of Mercury’s magnetosphere. Under northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), the condition that prevailed during the first flyby, finite gyro-radius effects lead to increased penetration of pickup ions into the dusk magnetosphere. In contrast, under southward IMF the planetary ion distributions are dominated by the open magnetopause boundary and the formation of a near-tail X-line, leading not only to increased penetration of pickup ions into the magnetosphere, but also to increased “leakage” to the solar wind of ions generated inside the magnetopause. This leakage reduces the ion fraction populating the magnetotail and introduces a substantial pickup ion conductance. Furthermore, it is found that the Mg+/Na+ ratio along the MESSENGER trajectory is much less than unity unless a low-energy, high-density source of neutral Mg is assumed near the surface.

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