Dual-spacecraft observation of large-scale magnetic flux ropes in the Martian ionosphere

Abstract

[1] We here report the first dual-spacecraft detection of planetary flux ropes in the ionosphere of Mars. The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS), on board Mars Express, can measure the magnetic field magnitude near the spacecraft. Typically, these measurements track the known crustal magnetic field strength very well; however, occasionally, MARSIS detects transient, intense magnetic fields that deviate significantly from the known crustal fields. Two such magnetic field enhancements occur in near-coincidence with flux rope detections by the Mars Global Surveyor Magnetometer and Electron Reflectometer, which provides vector magnetic field measurements, allowing us to clearly identify the enhancements as flux ropes. The flux ropes detected are quasi-stable for at least a half hour, have peak magnetic field strengths of ∼50 and 90 nT, and are ∼650–700 km in diameter. Both occur downstream of the region of strong crustal fields. In addition, MARSIS has detected 13 other magnetic enhancements over a 5 year period, which we infer to be flux ropes. These structures have peak field strengths up to 130 nT and measured horizontal dimensions of several hundred to over a thousand kilometers. They are clustered around the intense crustal fields in the southern hemisphere of Mars. The large spatial scale of these flux ropes distinguishes them from small-scale flux ropes, with diameters of tens of kilometers, that have been seen in the ionospheres of Venus and Mars. These large-scale flux ropes are believed to be caused by solar wind stretching and shearing of the Martian crustal fields.