Speaker
Description
Crustal magnetic fields were first discovered at Mars by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) mission (Acuña et al., 1998). Since then, there have been several crustal field models and maps produced, as well as many missions to Mars to better study the crustal fields. The crustal fields are thought to influence ion loss from the planet, so having a precise understanding of the structure of these fields is vital. The Mars Atmospheric and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) explorer is yet another mission to the red planet, and its magnetometer (MAG) instrument has been returning interesting data on both induced and crustal fields. Induced magnetic fields are the result of the solar wind interaction with the Martian ionosphere, in areas where crustal fields are less strong. Sometimes, a current sheet is formed when these 2 types of fields are found in close proximity to one another. Cravens et al. (2020) and Harada et al. (2017) considered cases in which magnetic reconnection took place in these current sheets. But what was not explored in these papers is that the currents in the boundary will not just affect the external induced field regions, but will affect the crustal field regions as well. In this talk, we discuss this "extended" interaction and consider what can be learned from the perturbation of the crustal magnetic field in the dayside ionosphere.
Type of contribution | Oral contribution (10 minutes) |
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