Characterizing Mars' magnetotail topology with respect to the upstream interplanetary magnetic fields | CU Experts

; The canonical picture of the magnetotail of unmagnetized planets; consists of draped interplanetary magnetic fields (IMF) forming; opposite-directed lobes, separated by the current sheet.; citet{DiBraccio2018twisted}; showed that Mars’; magnetotail has a twist departing from this picture. Magnetohydrodynamic; (MHD) results suggest that open field lines connected to the planet that; populate portions of the tail cause the apparent twist. To validate this; interpretation, we compare the tail topology determined from MHD; simulations to that inferred from data collected by the Mars Atmosphere; and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, in particular how each; topology responds to the upstream IMF orientation. The occurrence rates; for open topology from both data and MHD varies with IMF polarities in a; similar fashion as the tail twisting. This suggests that Mars’ crustal; fields have a global effect on the magnetosphere configuration,; supporting the picture of a “hybrid” magnetotail that is partly; induced/draped and partly intrinsic/planetary in origin.;

Xu S; Mitchell DL; Weber T; Brain DA; Luhmann JG; Dong C; Curry SM; Ma YJ; DiBraccio GA; Halekas JS

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