Influence of the IMF direction on Mercury's magnetosphere

Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet of our solar system, is exposed to a strong solar wind. The internal field is dipole-dominated, relatively weak, axisymmetric and significantly offset towards north. Through the interaction with the strong solar wind, this field leads to a comparatively small and dynamic magnetosphere.

To first order the magnetopause completely separates the magnetosphere from the magnetosheath and thus no magnetic field may penetrate this boundary. In reality, the magnetosheath magnetic field may diffuse across the very thin boundary within a finite time.  We first investigate how the magnetosheath magnetic field changes under different IMF conditions and directions. Second, we can investigate the penetration of the magnetic field from the magnetosheath through the magnetopause inside the magnetosphere and obtain the structure of the IMF influence on the Hermean magnetosphere.