Premium
New Model for Ionospheric Irregularities at Mars
Author(s) -
Keskinen M. J.
Publication year - 2018
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 - 10.1002/2017gl076507
Subject(s) - ionosphere , martian , dynamo , mars exploration program , geophysics , physics , instability , amplitude , atmosphere of mars , dynamo theory , earth's magnetic field , geology , atmospheric sciences , magnetic field , astrobiology , mechanics , quantum mechanics
A new model for ionospheric irregularities at Mars is presented. It is shown that wind‐driven currents in the dynamo region of the Martian ionosphere can be unstable to the electromagnetic gradient drift instability. This plasma instability can generate ionospheric density and magnetic field irregularities with scale sizes of approximately 15–20 km down to a few kilometers. We show that the instability‐driven magnetic field fluctuation amplitudes relative to background are correlated with the ionospheric density fluctuation amplitudes relative to background. Our results can explain recent observations made by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN spacecraft in the Martian ionosphere dynamo region.