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Abstract: Mercury is exposed to the most dynamic heliospheric space environment of any planet in the solar system. The magnetosphere is particularly sensitive to variations in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), which control the intensity and geometry of the magnetospheric current systems that are the dominant source of uncertainty in determinations of the internal planetary magnetic field structure. The Magnetometer on the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft has made extensive magnetic field observations in the inner heliosphere over the heliocentric distances of Mercury''s orbit, between 0.31 and 0.47AU. In this paper, Magnetometer data from MESSENGER, obtained at rates of 2 and 20 vector samples per second, are used together with previous observations in the inner heliosphere by Helios and at Earth by the Advanced Composition Explorer, to study the characteristics of IMF variability at Mercury''s orbit. Although the average IMF geometry and magnitude depend on heliocentric distance as predicted by Parker, the variability is large, comparable to the total field magnitude. Using models for the external current systems we evaluate the impact of the variability on the field near the planet and find that the large IMF fluctuations should produce variations of the magnetospheric field of up to 30% of the dipole field at 200km altitude, corresponding to the planned periapsis of MESSENGER''s orbit at Mercury. The IMF fluctuations in the frequency range are consistent with turbulence, whereas evidence for dissipation was observed for . The transition between the turbulent and dissipative regimes is indicated by a break in the power spectrum, and the frequency of this break point is proportional to the IMF magnitude. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The MESSENGER Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) measured the bulk plasma characteristics of Mercury''s magnetosphere and solar wind environment during the spacecraft''s first two flybys of the planet on 14 January 2008 (M1) and 6 October 2008 (M2), producing the first measurements of thermal ions in Mercury''s magnetosphere. In this work, we identify major features of the Mercury magnetosphere in the FIPS proton data and describe the data analysis process used for recovery of proton density (n p) and temperature (T p) with a forward modeling technique, required because of limitations in measurement geometry. We focus on three regions where the magnetospheric flow speed is likely to be low and meets our criteria for the recovery process: the M1 plasma sheet and the M1 and M2 dayside and nightside boundary-layer regions. Interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions were substantially different between the two flybys, with intense reconnection signatures observed by the Magnetometer during M2 versus a relatively quiet magnetosphere during M1. The recovered ion density and temperature values for the M1 quiet-time plasma sheet yielded n p∼1–10cm−3, T p∼2×106 K, and plasma β∼2. The nightside boundary-layer proton densities during M1 and M2 were similar, at n p∼4–5cm−3, but the temperature during M1 (T p∼4–8×106 K) was 50% less than during M2 (T p∼8×106 K), presumably due to reconnection in the tail. The dayside boundary layer observed during M1 had a density of ∼16cm−3 and temperature of 2×106 K, whereas during M2 this region was less dense and hotter (n p∼8cm−3 and T p∼10×106 K), again, most likely due to magnetopause reconnection. Overall, the southward interplanetary magnetic field during M2 clearly produced higher T p in the dayside and nightside magnetosphere, as well as higher plasma β in the nightside boundary, ∼20 during M2 compared with ∼2 during M1. The proton plasma pressure accounts for only a fraction (24% for M1 and 64% for M2) of the drop in magnetic pressure upon entry into the dayside boundary layer. This result suggests that heavy ions of planetary origin, not considered in this analysis, may provide the “missing” pressure. If these planetary ions were hot due to “pickup” in the magnetosheath, the required density for pressure balance would be an ion density of ∼1cm−3 for an ion temperature of ∼108 K. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We report an investigation of magnetic reconnection in Mercury’s magnetotail conducted with MESSENGER Magnetometer and Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer measurements during seven “hot seasons” when the periapsis of the spacecraft orbit is on Mercury’s dayside. Flux ropes are formed in the cross-tail current sheet by reconnection. We have analyzed 49 flux ropes observed between 1.7 R M and 2.8 R M (where R M is Mercury’s radius, or 2440 km) down the tail from the center of the planet, for which minimum variance analysis indicates that the spacecraft passed near the central axis of the structure. An average Alfvén speed of 465 km s −1 is measured in the plasma sheet surrounding these flux ropes. Under the assumption that the flux ropes moved at the local Alfvén speed, the mean duration of 0.74±0.15 s determined for these structures implies a typical diameter of ~345 km, or ~0.14 R M , which is comparable to a proton gyroradius in the plasma sheet of ~380 km. We successfully fit the magnetic signatures of 16 flux ropes to a force-free model. The mean radius and core field determined in this manner were ~450 km, or ~0.18 R M , and ~40 nT, respectively. A superposed epoch analysis of the magnetic field during these events shows variations similar to those observed at Earth, including the presence of a post-plasmoid plasma sheet, filled with disconnected magnetic flux, but the timescales are 40 times shorter at Mercury. The results of this flux rope survey indicate that intense magnetic reconnection occurs frequently in the cross-tail current layer of this small but extremely dynamic magnetosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The second and third flybys of Mercury by the MESSENGER spacecraft occurred, respectively, on 6 October 2008 and on 29 September 2009. In order to provide contextual information about the solar wind properties and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) near the planet at those times, we have used an empirical modeling technique combined with a numerical physics-based solar wind model. The Wang–Sheeley–Arge (WSA) method uses solar photospheric magnetic field observations (from Earth-based instruments) in order to estimate the inner heliospheric radial flow speed and radial magnetic field out to 21.5 solar radii from the Sun. This information is then used as input to the global numerical magnetohydrodynamic model, ENLIL, which calculates solar wind velocity, density, temperature, and magnetic field strength and polarity throughout the inner heliosphere. WSA-ENLIL calculations are presented for the several-week period encompassing the second and third flybys. This information, in conjunction with available MESSENGER data, aid in understanding the Mercury flyby observations and provide a basis for global magnetospheric modeling. We find that during both flybys, the solar wind conditions were very quiescent and would have provided only modest dynamic driving forces for Mercury''s magnetospheric system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Magnetic field and plasma data from the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft on the outbound portions of the first (M1) and second (M2) flybys of Mercury reveal a region of depressed magnetic field magnitude and enhanced proton fluxes adjacent to but within the magnetopause, which we denote as a dayside boundary layer. The layer was present during both encounters despite the contrasting dayside magnetic reconnection, which was minimal during M1 and strong during M2. The overall width of the layer is estimated to be between 1000 and 1400km, spanning most of the distance from the dayside planetary surface to the magnetopause in the mid-morning. During both flybys the magnetic pressure decrease was ∼1.6nPa, and the width of the inner edge was comparable to proton gyro-kinetic scales. The maximum variance in the magnetic field across the inner edge was aligned with the magnetic field vector, and the magnetic field direction did not change markedly, indicating that the change in field intensity was consistent with an outward plasma-pressure gradient perpendicular to the magnetic field. Proton pressures in the layer inferred from reduced distribution observations were 0.4nPa during M1 and 1.0nPa during M2, indicating either that the proton pressure estimates are low or that heavy ions contribute substantially to the boundary-layer plasma pressure. If the layer is formed by protons drifting westward from the cusp, there should be a strong morning–afternoon asymmetry that is independent of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) direction. Conversely, if heavy ions play a major role, the layer should be strong in the morning (afternoon) for northward (southward) IMF. Future MESSENGER observations from orbit about Mercury should distinguish between these two possibilities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The MESSENGER spacecraft flyby of Mercury on 14 January 2008 provided a new opportunity to study the intrinsic magnetic field of the innermost planet and its interaction with the solar wind. The model presented in this paper is based on the solution of the three-dimensional, bi-fluid equations for solar wind protons and electrons in the absence of mass loading. In this study we provide new estimates of Mercury’s intrinsic magnetic field and the solar wind conditions that prevailed at the time of the flyby. We show that the location of the boundary layers and the strength of the magnetic field along the spacecraft trajectory can be reproduced with a solar wind ram pressure P sw =6.8nPa and a planetary magnetic dipole having a magnitude of 210 R M 3 −nT and an offset of 0.18 R M to the north of the equator, where R M is Mercury’s radius. Analysis of the plasma flow reveals the existence of a stable drift belt around the planet; such a belt can account for the locations of diamagnetic decreases observed by the MESSENGER Magnetometer. Moreover, we determine that the ion impact rate at the northern cusp was four times higher than at the southern cusp, a result that provides a possible explanation for the observed north–south asymmetry in exospheric sodium in the neutral tail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]