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MESSENGER observations of large flux transfer events at Mercury
Author(s) -
Slavin James A.,
Lepping Ronald P.,
Wu ChinChun,
Anderson Brian J.,
Baker Daniel N.,
Benna Mehdi,
Boardsen Scott A.,
Killen Rosemary M.,
Korth Haje,
Krimigis Stamatios M.,
McClintock William E.,
McNutt Ralph L.,
Sarantos Menelaos,
Schriver David,
Solomon Sean C.,
Trávníček Pavel,
Zurbuchen Thomas H.
Publication year - 2010
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 - 10.1029/2009gl041485
Subject(s) - magnetosheath , magnetopause , solar wind , flux (metallurgy) , geophysics , interplanetary magnetic field , mercury (programming language) , magnetic flux , physics , magnetic field , atmospheric sciences , geology , materials science , computer science , metallurgy , programming language , quantum mechanics
Six flux transfer events (FTEs) were encountered during MESSENGER's first two flybys of Mercury (M1 and M2). For M1 the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) was predominantly northward and four FTEs with durations of 1 to 6 s were observed in the magnetosheath following southward IMF turnings. The IMF was steadily southward during M2, and an FTE 4 s in duration was observed just inside the dawn magnetopause followed ∼32 s later by a 7‐s FTE in the magnetosheath. Flux rope models were fit to the magnetic field data to determine FTE dimensions and flux content. The largest FTE observed by MESSENGER had a diameter of ∼1 R M (where R M is Mercury's radius), and its open magnetic field increased the fraction of the surface exposed to the solar wind by 10–20 percent and contributed up to ∼30 kV to the cross‐magnetospheric electric potential.