Premium
Response of Mars O + pickup ions to the 8 March 2015 ICME: Inferences from MAVEN data‐based models
Author(s) -
Curry S. M.,
Luhmann J. G.,
Ma Y. J.,
Dong C. F.,
Brain D.,
Leblanc F.,
Modolo R.,
Dong Y.,
McFadden J.,
Halekas J.,
Connerney J.,
Espley J.,
Hara T.,
Harada Y.,
Lee C.,
Fang X.,
Jakosky B.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2015gl065304
Subject(s) - solar wind , mars exploration program , physics , ejecta , interplanetary spaceflight , coronal mass ejection , magnetohydrodynamics , atmospheric escape , interplanetary magnetic field , geophysics , astrophysics , astrobiology , plasma , nuclear physics , supernova
We simulate and compare three phases of the Mars‐solar wind interaction with the 8 March interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) event using Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission observations in order to derive heavy ion precipitation and escape rates. The MAVEN observations provide the initial conditions for three steady state MHD model cases, which reproduce the observed features in the solar wind density, velocity, and magnetic field seen along the MAVEN orbit. Applying the MHD results to a kinetic test particle model, we simulate global precipitation and escape maps of O + during the (1) pre‐ICME phase, (2) sheath phase, and (3) ejecta phase. We find that the Case 1 had the lowest precipitation and escape rates of 9.5 × 10 25 and 4.1 × 10 25 s −1 , Case 2 had the highest rates of 9.5 × 10 25 and 4.1 × 10 25 s −1 , and Case 3 had rates of 3.2 × 10 25 and 1.3 × 10 25 s −1 , respectively. Additionally, Case 2 produced a high‐energy escaping plume >10 keV, which mirrored corresponding STATIC observations.