A hot flow anomaly at Mars

Glyn Collinson; Jasper Halekas; Joseph Grebowsky; Jack Connerney; David Mitchell; Jared Espley; Gina DiBraccio; Christian Mazelle; Jean‐André Sauvaud; Andrei Fedorov; Bruce Jakosky

doi:10.1002/2015gl065079

journal article Nov 05, 2015

A hot flow anomaly at Mars

Glyn Collinson Jasper Halekas Joseph Grebowsky Jack Connerney David Mitchell

Jared Espley Gina DiBraccio Christian Mazelle Jean‐André Sauvaud Andrei Fedorov Bruce Jakosky

Geophysical Research Letters Vol. 42 No. 21 pp. 9121-9127 · American Geophysical Union (AGU)

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Abstract

AbstractOne of the most important modes of planet/solar wind interaction are “foreshock transients” such as hot flow anomalies (HFAs). Here we present early observations by the NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN spacecraft, confirming their presence at Mars and for the first time at an unmagnetized planet revealing the underlying ion perturbations that drive the phenomenon, finding them to be weaker than at magnetized planets. Analysis revealed the HFA to be virtually microscopic: the smallest on record at ∼2200 km across and commensurate with the local proton gyroradius, resulting in a much stronger perturbation in solar wind protons than alpha particles. As at Venus, despite being physically diminutive, the HFA is still large (0.66 RM) when compared to the relative size of the induced magnetosphere. Given the associated order of magnitude decrease in solar wind dynamic pressure (411 pPa
70 pPa), we find that HFAs at Mars have the potential to directly impact the topside ionosphere. We thus hypothesize that the loss of a planetary magnetic dynamo left Mars far more vulnerable to the pressure pulses resulting from HFAs and related foreshock transients.

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Metrics

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Citations

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References

Details

Published: Nov 05, 2015
Vol/Issue: 42(21)
Pages: 9121-9127
License: View

Authors

G

Glyn Collinson

NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center Greenbelt Maryland USA; Institute for Astrophysics and Computational Sciences Catholic University of America Washington District of Columbia USA

J

Jasper Halekas

Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Iowa Iowa City Iowa USA

J

Joseph Grebowsky

NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center Greenbelt Maryland USA

J

Jack Connerney

NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center Greenbelt Maryland USA

D

David Mitchell

Space Sciences Laboratory University of California Berkeley California USA

J

Jared Espley

NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center Greenbelt Maryland USA

G

Gina DiBraccio

NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center Greenbelt Maryland USA

C

Christian Mazelle

L'Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie CNRS Toulouse France; University Paul Sabatier Toulouse France

J

Jean‐André Sauvaud

L'Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie CNRS Toulouse France; University Paul Sabatier Toulouse France

A

Andrei Fedorov

L'Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie CNRS Toulouse France; University Paul Sabatier Toulouse France

B

Bruce Jakosky

Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics Boulder Colorado USA

Cite This Article

Glyn Collinson, Jasper Halekas, Joseph Grebowsky, et al. (2015). A hot flow anomaly at Mars. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(21), 9121-9127. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015gl065079

A hot flow anomaly at Mars

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