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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Stationary flux ropes at the southern terminator of Mars
AU - Beharrell, Mat
AU - Wild, James
N1 - “Accepted for publication in Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics . Copyright 2012 American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.”
PY - 2012/12
Y1 - 2012/12
N2 - Flux ropes have long been observed in the upper atmosphere of Venus, and more recently at Mars. Here we present magnetic field measurements of flux ropes encountered at the southern terminator of Mars by Mars Global Surveyor, and compare them to a flux rope model. This allows several parameters of each rope to be inferred. Remarkably similar flux ropes are met repeatedly at the southern terminator over a period of the Martian year, when strong crustal magnetic fields are upstream of their position, indicating that they are most likely stationary and attached to the upstream crustal fields. A mechanism is described that could produce the observed flux ropes.
AB - Flux ropes have long been observed in the upper atmosphere of Venus, and more recently at Mars. Here we present magnetic field measurements of flux ropes encountered at the southern terminator of Mars by Mars Global Surveyor, and compare them to a flux rope model. This allows several parameters of each rope to be inferred. Remarkably similar flux ropes are met repeatedly at the southern terminator over a period of the Martian year, when strong crustal magnetic fields are upstream of their position, indicating that they are most likely stationary and attached to the upstream crustal fields. A mechanism is described that could produce the observed flux ropes.
KW - Mars
KW - Solar wind
KW - ionosphere
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84870990762&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2012JA017738
DO - 10.1029/2012JA017738
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84870990762
VL - 117
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research
SN - 0148-0227
IS - A12
M1 - A12212
ER -