Responses of the Martian magnetosphere to an interplanetary coronal mass ejection: MAVEN observations and LatHyS results

Norberto Romanelli (1) , Ronan Modolo (1) , François Leblanc (1) , Jean-Yves Chaufray (1) , Antoine Martinez (1) , Y. Ma (2) , C. O. Lee (3) , J. Luhmann (3) , J. Halekas (4) , D. Brain (5) , G. Dibraccio (6) , J. Espley (6) , J. Mcfadden (3) , B. Jakosky (5) , M. Holmström (7)

1 HELIOS - LATMOS
2 EPSS - Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences [Los Angeles]
3 SSL - Space Sciences Laboratory [Berkeley]
4 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Iowa City]
5 LASP - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics [Boulder]
6 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
7 IRF - Swedish Institute of Space Physics [Kiruna]

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft observed a strong interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) reaching Mars on 13 September 2017. In this work we analyze the interaction between such an extreme event and the Martian induced magnetosphere by means of LATMOS Hybrid Simulation (LatHyS) stationary runs and magnetic field and plasma observations obtained by MAVEN in a time interval from ∼ 5 h before the ICME shock arrival to about 5.5 h after the impact. Detailed comparisons between simulation results and such MAVEN measurements are performed and show that several stages during this interaction can be described through a combination of steady states. LatHyS results show the simulated bow shock is closer to the planet for higher magnetosonic Mach number and solar wind dynamic pressure conditions, in agreement with previous observational studies. MAVEN observations and LatHyS results also suggest a compression on the flanks of the magnetic pile‐up boundary. Finally, simulated H+ and O+ planetary escape rates increase by a factor ∼10 and ∼2.4, respectively, due to the ICME passage through the Martian magnetosphere.

Domains: Astrophysics [astro-ph]

Norberto Romanelli, Ronan Modolo, François Leblanc, Jean-Yves Chaufray, Antoine Martinez, et al.. Responses of the Martian magnetosphere to an interplanetary coronal mass ejection: MAVEN observations and LatHyS results. Geophysical Research Letters, 2018, 45 (16), pp.7891-7900. ⟨10.1029/2018GL077714⟩. ⟨insu-01800509⟩