1. Interaction of Space Weather Phenomena with Mars Plasma Environment During Solar Minimum 23/24
- Author
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Andrey Fedorov, Hans Nilsson, P. Kajdič, Beatriz Sánchez-Cano, G. C. Bernal, L. Neves-Ribeiro, Diana Rojas-Castillo, and Olivier Witasse
- Subjects
Solar minimum ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics ,Space weather ,01 natural sciences ,Physics - Space Physics ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) ,Physics ,Plasma ,Mars Exploration Program ,Bow shocks in astrophysics ,Physics - Plasma Physics ,Space Physics (physics.space-ph) ,Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) ,Solar wind ,Geophysics ,Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Space and Planetary Science ,Physics::Space Physics ,Orbit (dynamics) ,Dynamic pressure ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics - Abstract
We study the interaction of three solar wind structures, two stream interaction regions and one interplanetary coronal mass ejection, with Mars' plasma environment during 20-27 November 2007. This period corresponds to the solar minimum between the solar cycles 23 and 24 which was characterized by very low values of the solar wind density and dynamic pressure and low IMF magnitude. During that time the Mars-Express orbit was in the terminator plane, while the Earth, Sun, and Mars were almost aligned, so we use the ACE and STEREO probes as solar wind monitors in order to identify and characterize the structures that later hit Mars. We find that the passage of these structures caused strong variations of in the bow shock location (between 2.2 and 3.0~R$_M$), compression of the magnetospheric cavity (up to 45~\%) and an increased transterminator flow below 2~R$_M$ (by a factor of $\leq$8). This study shows that during times of low solar activity, modest space weather phenomena may cause large variations of plasma flow at Mars., Comment: Published in Journal of Geophysical Research
- Published
- 2021
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