EGU2020-6493
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-6493
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Deceleration and deflection of solar wind ions by periodic shocks

Aimin Du and Lican Shan
Aimin Du and Lican Shan
  • Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, Space physics, Beijing, China (amdu@mail.iggcas.ac.cn)

Interacting with a supersonic solar wind, the escaping ions result in a series of phenomena in the Martian space environment. Observations from MAVEN magnetometer and plasma detector revealed a serial of small-amplitude quasi-monochromatic waves upstream of the Martian bow shock. Those waves have a dominant frequency at the local proton gyrofrequency. The waves evolve into periodic shock structures as they are convected downstream by the high-speed solar wind flow. We found those structures deflected and decelerated solar wind ions through magnetic mirror topology. A consequence of the effect is a significant loss of solar wind ion energy, accompanying with pitch angle scattering.

How to cite: Du, A. and Shan, L.: Deceleration and deflection of solar wind ions by periodic shocks, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-6493, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-6493, 2020