EGU26-1395, updated on 13 Mar 2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-1395
EGU General Assembly 2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Oral | Thursday, 07 May, 11:50–12:00 (CEST)
 
Room D2
Out-of-the-Ecliptic Dust Investigation via Solar Orbiter RPW Observations
Mitchell Shen1, David Malaspina2, David Píša3, Petr Pokorný4, Jamey Szalay1, Jan Souček3, Arnaud Zaslavsky5, Milan Maksimovic6, and Stuart Bale7
Mitchell Shen et al.
  • 1Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States (mitchellshen@princeton.edu)
  • 2Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences Department, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States
  • 3Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
  • 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, Catholic University of America, Washington D.C., United States
  • 5CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, LESIA, Meudon, France
  • 6LIRA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, CY Cergy Paris Université, Meudon, France
  • 7Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States

The complex makeup of interplanetary dust undergoes a continuous cycle of production, transport, and diminishment through various physical processes. The zodiacal cloud, a vast structure within the Solar System originating from particles released by comets and asteroids, undergoes erosion through collisional grinding, fragmentation, sputtering, and sublimation when it is near the Sun. The primary driver of the inner zodiacal cloud evolution is collisional erosion; however, collision rates and the associated fragmentation in the most frequent collision areas have not been well quantified. Solar Orbiter (SolO) is gradually increasing its inclination, enabling measurements to be taken beyond the ecliptic plane (~17° latitude in 2025-2026). This latitudinal tilt allows SolO to sample regions above and below the ecliptic plane. Our work aims to provide two scientific insights through a comprehensive data-model comparison: (1) What are the spatial and temporal variabilities of the inner heliospheric dust environment? (2) To what extent does collisional fragmentation contribute to the mass loss of the zodiacal cloud with latitudinal dependence?

How to cite: Shen, M., Malaspina, D., Píša, D., Pokorný, P., Szalay, J., Souček, J., Zaslavsky, A., Maksimovic, M., and Bale, S.: Out-of-the-Ecliptic Dust Investigation via Solar Orbiter RPW Observations, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-1395, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-1395, 2026.