Search Publications
The structure and variability of Mars dayside thermosphere from MAVEN NGIMS and IUVS measurements: Seasonal and solar activity trends in scale heights and temperatures
Stiepen, Arnaud; Schneider, Nicholas M.; Bougher, Stephen W. +10 more
Mars dayside thermospheric temperature and scale height trends were examined using measurements from the Neutral Gas Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) and the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) on the Mars Atmosphere Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft. Average scale heights (over 150-180 km for solar zenith angles ≤75°) from several different …
Interplanetary coronal mass ejection observed at STEREO-A, Mars, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Saturn, and New Horizons en route to Pluto: Comparison of its Forbush decreases at 1.4, 3.1, and 9.9 AU
Barabash, S.; Krupp, N.; Roussos, E. +48 more
We discuss observations of the journey throughout the Solar System of a large interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) that was ejected at the Sun on 14 October 2014. The ICME hit Mars on 17 October, as observed by the Mars Express, Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Mission (MAVEN), Mars Odyssey, and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) missions,…
Hot oxygen escape from Mars: Simple scaling with solar EUV irradiance
Luhmann, J.; Cravens, T. E.; Combi, M. +8 more
The evolution of the atmosphere of Mars and the loss of volatiles over the lifetime of the solar system is a key topic in planetary science. An important loss process for atomic species, such as oxygen, is ionospheric photochemical escape. Dissociative recombination of O2+ ions (the major ion species) produces fast oxygen ato…
Martian magnetic storms
Luhmann, J. G.; Russell, C. T.; Li, Y. +11 more
The response of Mars to the major space weather events called interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) is of interest for both general planetary solar wind interaction studies and related speculations on their evolutionary consequences—especially with respect to atmosphere escape. Various particle and field signatures of ICMEs have been obser…
Global Mars-solar wind coupling and ion escape
Barabash, Stas; Nilsson, Hans; Holmström, Mats +2 more
Loss of the early Martian atmosphere is often thought to have occurred due to an effective transfer of the solar wind energy through the Martian induced magnetic barrier to the ionosphere. We have quantified the coupling efficiency by comparing the power of the heavy ion outflow with the available power supplied by the upstream solar wind. Constra…
Solar wind- and EUV-dependent models for the shapes of the Martian plasma boundaries based on Mars Express measurements
Barabash, Stas; Holmström, Mats; Futaana, Yoshifumi +1 more
The long operational life (2003-present) of Mars Express (MEX) has allowed the spacecraft to make plasma measurements in the Martian environment over a wide range of upstream conditions. We have analyzed ∼7000 MEX orbits, covering three orders of magnitude in solar wind dynamic pressure, with data from the on board Analyzer of Space Plasmas and En…
Comparative study of the Martian suprathermal electron depletions based on Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Express, and Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission observations
André, N.; Fedorov, A.; Sauvaud, J. -A. +16 more
Nightside suprathermal electron depletions have been observed at Mars by three spacecraft to date: Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Express, and the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission. This spatial and temporal diversity of measurements allows us to propose here a comprehensive view of the Martian electron depletions through the firs…
Mars plasma system response to solar wind disturbances during solar minimum
Holmström, M.; Odstrcil, D.; Lester, M. +16 more
This paper is a phenomenological description of the ionospheric plasma and induced magnetospheric boundary (IMB) response to two different types of upstream solar wind events impacting Mars in March 2008, at the solar minimum. A total of 16 Mars Express orbits corresponding to five consecutive days is evaluated. Solar TErrestrial RElations Observa…
Nitric oxide nightglow and Martian mesospheric circulation from MAVEN/IUVS observations and LMD-MGCM predictions
Forget, F.; Montmessin, F.; González-Galindo, F. +19 more
We report results from a study of nitric oxide nightglow over the northern hemisphere of Mars during winter, the southern hemisphere during fall equinox, and equatorial latitudes during summer in the northern hemisphere based on observations of the δ and γ bands between 190 and 270 nm by the Imaging UltraViolet Spectrograph (IUVS) on the Mars Atmo…
The transient topside layer and associated current sheet in the ionosphere of Mars
Gurnett, Donald A.; Halekas, Jasper S.; DiBraccio, Gina A. +2 more
Radar soundings from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on board the Mars Express spacecraft have shown that transient layers exist in the dayside upper ionosphere of Mars. The most prominent of these features is a second layer at an altitude near 200 km, well above that of the main photoionization l…