Other
Scientific paper
Sep 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008epsc.conf..748d&link_type=abstract
European Planetary Science Congress 2008, Proceedings of the conference held 21-25 September, 2008 in Münster, Germany. Online a
Other
Scientific paper
ABSTRACT Simultaneous in-situ measurements carried out by the ASPERA- 3 and MARSIS instruments onboard the Mars Express spacecraft for the first time provide us with the local parameters of cold ionospheric and hot solar wind plasma components in the different regions of the Martian magnetosphere and ionosphere. On the dayside, plasma of ionospheric and exospheric origin expands to large altitudes and gets in touch with the solar wind plasma. Formation of the magnetic field barrier which terminates the solar wind flow is governed by solar wind. The magnetic field rises up to the value which is just sufficient to balance the solar wind pressure while the position of the magnetospheric boundary varies insignificantly. Although, within the magnetic barrier, solar wind plasma is depleted, the total electron density increases due to the enhanced contribution of planetary plasma. In some cases, a load caused by a planetary plasma becomes so strong that a pile-up of the magnetic field occurs in a manner which forms a discontinuity (the magnetic pile-up boundary). Generally, the structure of the magnetospheric boundary on the dayside varies considerably, and this variability is probably controlled by the magnetic field orientation. Inside the magnetospheric boundary, the electron density continues to increase and forms the photoelectron boundary which sometimes almost coincides with the magnetospheric boundary. The magnetic field strength also increases in this region implying that the planetary plasma driven into the bulk motion transports the magnetic field inward. A cold and more dense ionospheric plasma at lower altitudes reveals a tailward cometary-like expansion. Large-amplitude oscillations in the number density of the ionospheric plasma is another typical feature. Crossings of plasma sheet at low altitudes in the terminator region are characterized by depletions in the density of the ionospheric component. In some cases, density depletions correlate with large vertical components of the crustal magnetic field. Such anticorrelation in the variations of the densities of the cold ionospheric and hot magnetosheath/plasma sheet plasmas is also rather typical for localized aurora-type events on the nightside.
Akalin Ferzan
Barabash Stas
Chanteur Gerard
Dubinin Edik
Duru Firdevs
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