Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Oblique reflections in the Mars Express MARSIS ...

Electronic data

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

Oblique reflections in the Mars Express MARSIS data set: stable density structures in the Martian ionosphere

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
  • David Andrews
  • Mats Andre
  • Hermann Opgenoorth
  • Niklas Edberg
  • Catherine Dieval
  • Firdevs Duru
  • Donald Gurnett
  • David Morgan
  • Olivier Witasse
Close
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>20/05/2014
<mark>Journal</mark>Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Issue number5
Volume119
Number of pages17
Pages (from-to)3944-3960
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date17/04/14
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) onboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express (MEX) spacecraft routinely detects evidence of localized plasma density structures in the Martian dayside ionosphere. Such structures, likely taking the form of spatially extended elevations in the plasma density at a given altitude, give rise to oblique reflections in the Active Ionospheric Sounder data. These structures are likely related to the highly varied Martian crustal magnetic field. In this study we use the polar orbit of MEX to investigate the repeatability of the ionospheric structures producing these anomalous reflections, examining data taken in sequences of multiple orbits which pass over the same regions of the Martian surface under similar solar illuminations, within intervals lasting tens of days. Presenting three such examples, or case studies, we show for the first time that these oblique reflections are often incredibly stable, indicating that the underlying ionospheric structures are reliably reformed in the same locations and with qualitatively similar parameters. The visibility, or lack thereof, of a given oblique reflection on a single orbit can generally be attributed to variations in the crustal field within the ionosphere along the spacecraft trajectory. We show that, within these examples, oblique reflections are generally detected whenever the spacecraft passes over regions of intense near-radial crustal magnetic fields (i.e., with a “cusp-like” configuration). The apparent stability of these structures is an important feature that must be accounted for in models of their origin.