EGU23-6347
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-6347
EGU General Assembly 2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

The mini induced magnetospheres at Mars.

Eduard Dubinin1, Markus Fraenz1, Martin Paetzold2, Silvia Tellmann2, Ginna DiBraccio3, and James McFadden4
Eduard Dubinin et al.
  • 1Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research, Goettingen, Germany (dubinin@mps.mpg.de)
  • 2Rheinisches Institut fuer Umweltforschung, Abteilung Planetforschung, Cologne, Germany
  • 3NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, USA.
  • 4Space Sciences Laboratory, U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.

We report on observations made by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft at Mars, in the region of the ion plume. We observe that in some cases, when the number density of oxygen ions is comparable to the density of the solar wind protons interaction between both plasmas leads to formation of mini induced magnetospheres (iMagnetospheres)  possessing all typical features of induced magnetospheres  observed at Mars or Venus: a pileup of the magnetic field at the ‘head’ of the ion cloud, magnetospheric cavity, partially void of solar wind protons, draping of the interplanetary magnetic field around the mini obstacle, formation of a magnetic tail with a current sheet, in which protons are accelerated by the magnetic field tensions. These new observations may shed a light on the mechanism of formation of induced magnetospheres.

How to cite: Dubinin, E., Fraenz, M., Paetzold, M., Tellmann, S., DiBraccio, G., and McFadden, J.: The mini induced magnetospheres at Mars., EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-6347, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-6347, 2023.