Title: External
fields on the nightside of Mars at Mars Global Surveyor mapping
altitudes
Source: GEOPHYSICAL
RESEARCH LETTERS 32 (16): Art. No. L16105 AUG 26 2005
Document Type: Article
Language: English
Abstract: More
than four years of data taken from Mars Global Surveyor during its
Mapping Phase Orbits ( 360 - 420 km altitude) over low field regions
were examined. The nightside magnetic field data were binned according
to a proxy solar wind pressure calculated from the dayside
measurements. When the crustal field contribution calculated from the
internal field model (FSU90) is removed, the distribution of residuals
is bi-valued in the sunward component. Pass-by-pass inspections of the
data sometimes show a sudden reversal of field, which occur on
successive passes. Analysis indicates that for these orbits MGS
traverses a current sheet that separates the two lobes of Mars'
magnetotail. These results indicate that on the nightside the major
contributor to the external field is the draping of the Interplanetary
Magnetic Field about the planet and that care must be taken when
utilizing such data for modeling Mars' internal field.
KeyWords Plus: CRUSTAL
MAGNETIC-FIELD; SOLAR-WIND; MAG/ER EXPERIMENT; BOUNDARY; VENUS
Addresses: Ferguson
BB (reprint author), Florida State Univ, Inst Geophys Fluid Dynam,
Tallahassee, FL 32306 USA
Florida State Univ, Inst Geophys Fluid Dynam, Tallahassee, FL 32306 USA
Florida State Univ, Sch Computat Sci, Tallahassee, FL 32306 USA
Catholic Univ Amer, Dept Phys, Washington, DC 20064 USA
Univ Calif Berkeley, Space Sci Lab, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
Univ Washington, Dept Earth & Space Sci, Seattle, WA 98195 USA
Publisher: AMER
GEOPHYSICAL UNION, 2000 FLORIDA AVE NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20009 USA
Subject Category: GEOSCIENCES,
MULTIDISCIPLINARY
IDS Number: 960CX
ISSN: 0094-8276