P047-0006
A First Comparison Between Ionospheric and Surface Level Magnetic Fields at Mars

Friday, 11 December 2020
Poster
Matthew O. Fillingim1, Catherine Johnson2,3, Anna Mittelholz4, Benoit Langlais5, Steven P Joy6, Peter J Chi6, Robert J Lillis1, Jared R Espley7, Heidi Haviland8, Suzanne E Smrekar9, W Bruce Banerdt9 and Bruce M Jakosky10, (1)University of California Berkeley, Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States, (2)University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (3)Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, United States, (4)University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (5)Lab Planetologie Geodynamique, Nantes, France, (6)University of California Los Angeles, Department of Earth Planetary and Space Sciences, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (7)Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (8)NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Heliophysics and Planetary Science Branch, Huntsville, AL, United States, (9)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (10)Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
With both the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission and the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission concurrently operating at Mars, we are able to make two point comparisons of the vector magnetic field at Mars for the first time. During MAVEN overflights of the InSight landing site, we compared deviations in the ionospheric magnetic field to variations in the surface level magnetic field. We find significant orbit to orbit variability in the magnitude and direction of the ionospheric magnetic field as well as significant day to day variability of the surface level magnetic field. We attribute this variability to time varying ionospheric currents. However, when analyzing the ensemble of 16 individual MAVEN overflights of the InSight landing location, we see no clear correlation between the magnitudes or directions of the ionospheric magnetic field and the surface magnetic field as might be expected. If the presumed ionospheric currents have a small scale size, then the ionospheric magnetic field will display increased variability as MAVEN flies through the current structure. Whereas the present analysis is restricted to mostly nightside MAVEN overflights where currents are expected to be weak, future analyses should incorporate dayside overflights where currents are expected to be stronger and current signatures more clear.
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