Magnetic Shadowing of High Energy Ions at Mars, Comparisons Between SLED/Phobos-2 Observations and Simulations

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[5719] Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets / Interactions With Particles And Fields, [6225] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mars

Scientific paper

Energetic particle data recorded by the SLED instrument aboard Phobos-2 while in circular orbit about Mars in March, 1989 showed the presence of magnetic shadowing. A 3-D, self-consistent, hybrid model (HYB-Mars) supplemented by test particle simulations was developed to study the response of the Martian plasma environment to solar disturbances and to interpret, in particular, the SLED observations. The magnetic and electric fields, as well as the properties of high energy ions, present at Mars under conditions of extreme solar disturbance can be derived from HYB-Mars. Our initial study [McKenna-Lawlor et al., EPS 2011, in press] showed that the HYB-Mars model predicted an already well-documented plasma phenomenon at the planet, namely the "solar wind-flow shadowing", identified in measurements of the ASPERA (plasma) experiment aboard Phobos-2. Furthermore, the HYB-Mars model predicted the occurrence of magnetic shadowing which is qualitatively similar to that recorded by SLED. Also, the simulations suggested that the configuration of the magnetic shadow depends on the pertaining solar wind density and velocity, and on the magnitude and direction of the interplanetary magnetic field. This study presents a more detailed investigation where upstream plasma and magnetic field conditions input to the HYB-Mars model come from measurements made aboard Phobos-2 contemporaneously with the SLED observations. In this way it is possible to realistically match the upstream interplanetary conditions with the configuration of the magnetic shadow recorded at various energies in the SLED data. One-to-one comparisons between the SLED observations and the simulated high energy H+ fluxes will be presented in this context and similarities and differences between the observations and the simulations discussed.

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