Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-05T02:45:07.906Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Plasma Dynamics in Mercury’s Magnetosphere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2016

Wing-Huen Ip*
Affiliation:
Institutes of Astronomy and Space Science, National Central UniversityChung-Li, Taiwan 32054

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Mercury is in all sense of the words still Terra Incognito, its magnetosphere is hence little known. The only source of knowledge came from the in-situ measurements by the Mariner 10 close encounters in 1974. This has been complemented since by ground-based observations of the atomic sodium and potassium emissions in the vicinity of the planetary disk. This series of optical observations has produced intriguing evidence of magnetospheric and/or solar wind effects on the surface-plasma interaction processes. In this review we will describe the current theories of the corresponding space weather effects.

Type
I. Joint Discussions
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Pacific 2005

References

Blomberg, L.G. 1997, Mercury’s magnetosphere, exosphere and surface: low-frequency field and wave measurements as a diagnostic tool, Planet. Space Sci., 45, 143 Google Scholar
Cheng, A.F., Johnson, R.E., Krimigis, S.M. & Lanzerotti, L.J. 1987, Magnetosphere, exosphere, and surface of Mercury, Icarus, 71, 430 Google Scholar
Christon, S.P., 1989, A comparison of the Mercury and Earth magnetospheres: Electron measurements and substorm time scales, Icarus, 71, 448 Google Scholar
Connerney, J.E.P. & Ness, N.F. 1988, Mercury’s magnetic field and interior, in Mercury, Eds. Vilas, F. Chapman, C.R. & Matthews, M. S. pp. 494513, Univ. Arizona, Press Google Scholar
Glassmeier, K.-H. 2000, Currents in Mercury’s magnetosphere, in Magnetospheric Current Systems, AGU Geophysical Monograph 118, pp. 371380 Google Scholar
Grard, R. 1997, Photoemission on the surface of Mercury and related electrical phenomena, Planet. Space Sci., 45, 67 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ip, W.-H. & Kopp, A. 2002, MHD simulations of the solar wind interaction with Mercury J. Geophys. Res., 107, 1348, doi:10.1029/2001JA009171Google Scholar
Ip, W.-H. & Kopp, A. 2003, Mercury’s Birkeland current system, Adv. Space Res., in pressGoogle Scholar
Janhunen, P. & Kallio, E. 2003, Surface conductivity of Mercury provides current closure and may affect magnetospheric symmetry, Ann. Geophys. In pressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kabin, K., Gobmosi, T.I., DeZeeuw, D.L. & Powell, K.G. 2000, Interaction of Mercury with the solar wind, Icarus, 143, 397 Google Scholar
Kallio, E. & Janhunen, P. 2003, Modelling the solar wind interaction with Mercury by a quasineutral hybrid model, Ann. Geophys. in pressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Killen, R.M., Potter, A.E., Reiff, P., Sarantos, M., Jackson, B.V., Hick, P. & Giles, B., 2001, Evidence for space weather at Mercury, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 20509 Google Scholar
Leblanc, F., Delcourt, D., & Johnson, R.E. 2003, Medrcury’s sodium exosphere: magnetospheric ion recycling, Icanus, in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luhmann, J.G., Russell, C.T., & Tsyganenko, N.A. 1998, Disturbances in Merucyr’s magnetosphere: Are the Mariner 10 “substorms” simply driven? J. Geophys. Res., 103, 9113 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ness, N.F., Behannon, K.W., Lepping, R.P., Whang, Y.C., & Schatten, K.H. 1974, Magnetic field observations near Mercury: Preliminary results from Mariner 10, Science, 185, 151 Google Scholar
Potter, A.E. & Morgan, T.H. 1997, Evidence for suprathermal sodium on Mercury, Adv. Space Rees., 19(10), 1571Google Scholar
Potter, A.E., Anderson, C.M., Killen, R.M. & Morgan, T.H. 2002, Ratio of sodium to potassium in the Mercury exosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 5050, doi:10.1029/2000JE001493Google Scholar
Russell, C.T., Baker, D.N. & J.A. Slavin 1988, The magnetosphere of Mercury, Eds. Vilas, F. Chapman, C.R., & Matthews, M.S., pp.514561, Univ. Arizona Press Google Scholar
Simpson, J.A., Eraker, J.H., Lamport, J.E., & Walpole, P.H. 1974, Electrons and protons accelerated in Mercury’s magnetic field, Science, 185, 160 Google Scholar
Slavin, J.A., Owen, J.C.J., Connerney, J.E.P. & Christon, S.P. 1997, Mariner 10 observations of field-aligned currents at Mercury, Planet. Space Sci., 45, 133 Google Scholar