Premium
Strong plume fluxes at Mars observed by MAVEN: An important planetary ion escape channel
Author(s) -
Dong Y.,
Fang X.,
Brain D. A.,
McFadden J. P.,
Halekas J. S.,
Connerney J. E.,
Curry S. M.,
Harada Y.,
Luhmann J. G.,
Jakosky B. M.
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 - 10.1002/2015gl065346
Subject(s) - atmosphere of mars , mars exploration program , plume , atmosphere (unit) , martian , atmospheric escape , electric field , solar wind , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , physics , astrobiology , ion , meteorology , plasma , quantum mechanics
We present observations by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission of a substantial plume‐like distribution of escaping ions from the Martian atmosphere, organized by the upstream solar wind convection electric field. From a case study of MAVEN particle‐and‐field data during one spacecraft orbit, we identified three escaping planetary ion populations: plume fluxes mainly along the upstream electric field over the north pole region of the Mars‐Sun‐Electric field (MSE) coordinate system, antisunward ion fluxes in the tail region, and much weaker upstream pickup ion fluxes. A statistical study of O + fluxes using 3 month MAVEN data shows that the plume is a constant structure with strong fluxes widely distributed in the MSE northern hemisphere, which constitutes an important planetary ion escape channel. The escape rate through the plume is estimated to be ~30% of the tailward escape and ~23% of the total escape for > 25 eV O + ions.