The Martian bow shock over solar cycle 23-24 as observed by the Mars Express mission

Hall, Benjamin Edward Stanley and Sánchez-Cano, Beatriz and Wild, James Anderson and Lester, Mark and Holmstrom, Mats (2019) The Martian bow shock over solar cycle 23-24 as observed by the Mars Express mission. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 124 (6). pp. 4761-4772. ISSN 2169-9402

[thumbnail of Hall_RV2_accepted]
Text (Hall_RV2_accepted)
Hall_RV2_accepted.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (1MB)

Abstract

The Martian bow shock position is known to be correlated with solar extreme ultraviolet irradiance. Since this parameter is also correlated with the evolution of the solar cycle, it is expected that the Martian bow shock position should also vary over such a period. However, previous reports on this topic have often proved contradictory. Using 13 years of observations of the Martian bow shock by the Mars Express mission over the period 2004 to 2017, we report that the Martian bow shock position does vary over the solar cycle. Over this period, our analysis shows the bow shock position to increase on average by 7% between the solar minimum and maximum phases of solar cycle 23–24, which could be even larger for more extreme previous solar cycles. We show that both annual and solar cycle variations play major roles in the location of the bow shock at Mars.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1908
Subjects:
?? marsbow shocksolar cyclemars expressaspera-3solar euvgeophysicsgeneral earth and planetary sciences ??
ID Code:
136007
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
08 Aug 2019 12:40
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
04 Oct 2024 00:11