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Observations of Kelvin‐Helmholtz waves along the dusk‐side boundary of Mercury's magnetosphere during MESSENGER's third flyby
Author(s) -
Boardsen Scott A.,
Sundberg Torbjörn,
Slavin James A.,
Anderson Brian J.,
Korth Haje,
Solomon Sean C.,
Blomberg Lars G.
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 - 10.1029/2010gl043606
Subject(s) - magnetopause , solar wind , physics , geophysics , magnetosphere , instability , magnetosheath , plasma sheet , magnetosphere of saturn , magnetic field , mechanics , quantum mechanics
During the third MESSENGER flyby of Mercury on 29 September 2009, 15 crossings of the dusk‐side magnetopause were observed in the magnetic field data over a 2‐min period, during which the spacecraft traveled a distance of 0.2 R M (where R M is Mercury's radius). The quasi‐periodic nature of the magnetic field variations during the crossings, the characteristic time separations of ∼16 s between pairs of crossings, and the variations of the magnetopause normal directions indicate that the signals are likely the signature of surface waves highly steepened at their leading edge that arose from the Kelvin‐Helmholtz instability. At Earth, the Kelvin‐Helmholtz instability is believed to lead to the turbulent transport of solar wind plasma into Earth's plasma sheet. This solar wind entry mechanism could also be important at Mercury.