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| Titel |
Solar wind precipitation - a comparison between Mars and Venus |
| VerfasserIn |
Gabriella Stenberg Wieser, Hans Nilsson, Yoshifumi Futaana, Mats Holmström, Stas Barabash |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2015
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 17 (2015) |
| Datensatznummer |
250112271
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2015-12421.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Mars and Venus both have atmospheres but both lack a substantial intrinsic magnetic field.
Hence, their interaction with the solar wind is similar. Due to currents set up in the
ionospheres the interplanetary magnetic field embedded in the solar wind drapes around the
planets forming induced magnetospheres.
The plasma instrument packages ASPERA-3 and ASPERA-4 on the two spacecraft Mars
Express and Venus Express are very similar and invite to a comparison between the two
plasma environments. In this study we used the Ion Mass Analyser (IMA) on both spacecraft
to investigate the solar wind precipitation onto the upper atmospheres. We focus on the
differences between the two planets. We conclude that on Mars we regularly observe
precipitating solar wind ions (H+ and He2+) inside the induced magnetosphere
boundary (IMB). The precipitation is clearly guided by the solar wind convection
electric field and He2+ and H+ are seen independently of each other. On Venus
precipitation of He2+ is only observed close to the IMB and always together with H+. The
precipitation events on Venus have no clear correlation with the solar wind electric field. |
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