Abstract
Abstract. Mars has neither a significant global intrinsic magnetic field nor a dense atmosphere. Therefore, solar energetic particles (SEPs) from the Sun can penetrate close to the planet (under some circumstances reaching the surface). On 13 March 1989 the SLED instrument aboard the Phobos-2 spacecraft recorded the presence of SEPs near Mars while traversing a circular orbit (at 2.8 RM). In the present study the response of the Martian plasma environment to SEP impingement on 13 March was simulated using a kinetic model. The electric and magnetic fields were derived using a 3-D self-consistent hybrid model (HYB-Mars) where ions are modelled as particles while electrons form a massless charge neutralizing fluid. The case study shows that the model successfully reproduced several of the observed features of the in situ observations: (1) a flux enhancement near the inbound bow shock, (2) the formation of a magnetic shadow where the energetic particle flux was decreased relative to its solar wind values, (3) the energy dependency of the flux enhancement near the bow shock and (4) how the size of the magnetic shadow depends on the incident particle energy. Overall, it is demonstrated that the Martian magnetic field environment resulting from the Mars–solar wind interaction significantly modulated the Martian energetic particle environment.
Highlights
The active Sun is a source of energetic particles which can potentially impact planetary bodies in the Solar System, in the inner heliosphere
The purpose of the present paper is to extend an earlier novel analysis of the SLED energetic particle measurements based on a global hybrid model of the Mars–solar wind interaction (McKenna-Lawlor et al, 2012)
The ion flux near bow shock crossing (BSIN) is anticipated to be very sensitive to the 3-D morphology of the magnetic field and its draping at the point where Phobos2 enters the magnetosheath in the perpendicular bow shock region
Summary
The active Sun is a source of energetic particles which can potentially impact planetary bodies in the Solar System, in the inner heliosphere. Significant solar flares can be associated with the acceleration of particles up to several hundred MeV/nucleon (in some instances up to a few GeV/nucleon) Such solar energetic particle (SEP) events are mostly composed of protons with about 10 % He and
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