An Empirical Model for Mercury’s Field‐Aligned Currents Derived From MESSENGER Magnetometer Data

Abstract

AbstractMercury is the only planetary magnetosphere which does not possess a significantly conducting ionosphere, yet magnetic field observations by the Mariner 10 and MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) missions revealed a stable presence of large‐scale field‐aligned currents (FACs). Several empirical magnetic field models have been developed to describe Mercury’s magnetospheric currents and their associated magnetic fields, but none attempted to include an explicit description of large‐scale FACs. Here, we describe a dynamic FAC magnetic field model for Mercury based on the analytical solution to conical currents, which are shielded by a dynamic magnetopause boundary. The model contains free parameters setting the FACs' latitudinal extent and amplitude as functions of magnetospheric activity. The parameters are fit by minimizing the root‐mean‐square (RMS) differences between the model and MESSENGER Magnetometer data. During magnetically quiet conditions, the modeled FACs have an intensity of ∼10 nA/m2 and extend in latitude from ∼83°N to ∼40°N. They intensify to ∼20 nA/m2 and expand equatorward to ∼28°N during the most active times. The inclusion of the FAC model reduces low‐altitude RMS residuals by 8.1% when compared to prior models. The model effectively captures the azimuthal component of the magnetic field present in the MESSENGER low‐altitude data, but largely misses the radial and co‐latitudinal components, indicating other large‐scale physics remain missing in the mathematical descriptions of Mercury's magnetosphere.