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Annual report - 2008

Mon, 2009-03-30 12:35, František Fárník

Kinetic processes in the solar wind, Mercury's magnetosheath and magnetosphere

Reported period :  2008

   Previous year has been the first year of our work on this project (started in August 2008). The focus of our project stated in BepiColombo/MMO Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment (MPPE) proposal (sent as a response to AO JX-MMO-9999) is on:
   

* 3D hybrid modeling of the solar wind interaction with the hermean environment (in particular for different IMF and heliocentric distances)
* high resolution 2D and 3D analysis of wave-particle interactions at bow shock, magnetopause, polar regions

* Comparison of simulation results with MPPC data

    During the projects (ESA; contracts PRODEX No. 14529: and PECS No. 98024) we have developed a global three dimensional kinetic model of the interaction between the solar wind and a planetary magnetosphere which has been successfully applied to the planet Mercury [Travnicek et al., 2003, 2005, 2007, Paral et al., 2008]. These results have lead to the inclusion of our team into core groups within BepiColombo project (ESA) and MESSENGER project (NASA). Presented project will help desingners of the BepiColombo instruments to estimate values of obsevables expected in the Mercury’s environment and will benefit from our access to MESSENGER data which will help us to keep this tool up to date for the operational phase of BepiColombo.
   During the first year we have performed several basic studies of the interaction between solar wind and a small magnetosphere, namely we have used three different orientations of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF): in ecliptics (this work has been published in GRL), and with IMF pointing north-ward and south-ward with respects to planet's own magnetic field. The IMF orientation determines the location of the proton foreshock and the soth-ward orientation supports formation on plasmoids in the magnetotail. We have presented these results at the AGU conference, San Francisco and on SWT meeting of BepiColombo, Sendai, Japan.
   Also in this project we count on our close collaboration with Czech industrial partner, SPRINX Systems. We have jointly designed and developed a high-performance facility specifically configured for numerical experiments needed for studies of phenomena in collisionless plasmas.
 

Refereed papers

   Slavin, J. A., B. J. Anderson, T. H. Zurbuchen, D. N. Baker, S. M. Krimigis, M. H. Acuna, M. Benna, S. A. Boardsen, G. Gloecker, R. E. Gold, G. C. Ho, H. Korth, R. L. McNutt Jr., J. M. Raines, M. Sarantos, D. Schriver, S. C. Solomon, and P. Travnicek (2009), MESSENGER observations of Mercury's magnetosphere during northward IMF, Geophys. Res. Lett. 36, L02101, doi:10.1029/2008GL036158.
   Sarantos, M., J. A. Slavin, M. Benna, S. A. Boardsen, R. M. Killen, D. Schriver, and P. Travnicek (2009), Sodium ion pickup observed above the magnetopause during MESSENGER's first Mercury flyby: Constraints on neutral exospheric models Geophys. Res. Lett., acepted.
   Travnicek, P. M., P. Hellinger, D. Schriver, D. Hercik, J. A. Slavin, and B. J. Anderson (2009), Kinetic instabilities in Mercury's magnetosphere: three-dimensional simulation results, Geophys. Res. Lett., doi:10.1029/2008GL036630.
   Slavin, J. A., M. H. Acuna, B. J. Anderson, D. N. Baker, M. Benna, G. Gloeckler, R. E. Gold, G. C. Ho, R. M. Killen, H. Korth, S. M. Krimigis, R. L. McNutt, Jr., L. R. Nittler, J. M. Raines, D. Schriver, S. C. Solomon, R. D. Starr, P. M. Travnicek, T. H. Zurbuchen (2008), Mercury's Magnetosphere after MESSENGER's First Flyby, Science, 321, 85, doi:10.1126/science.1159040.
   Paral, J., P. M. Travnicek, K. Kabin, R. Rankin, and T. H. Zurbuchen (2008), Spatial distribution and energy spectrum of heavy ions in the Hermean magnetosphere with application to MESSENGER flybys, WSPC - Proceedings, in press.
   
Presentations on international conferences
   
   Travnicek, P., D. Schriver, P. Hellinger, D. Hercik, J. A. Slavin, B. J. Anderson, M. H. Acuna, S. M. Krimigis, S. C. Solomon, T.H. Zurbuchen (2008), Case study of the structure of Mercury's magnetosphere: Comparison of three dimensional hybrid simulations with observations during MESSENGER's first Mercury flyby, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, 13. 4. - 18. 4. 2008.
   Khurana, K., M. K. Dougherty, Y. Jia, C. T. Russell, and P. Travnicek (2008), The variability of mass-loading near Enceladus, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, 13. 4. - 18. 4. 2008.
   Travnicek, P., S. Stverak, K. Khurana, P. Hellinger, M. Dougherty (2008), Hybrid Code Simulation of the Interaction of Enceladus's Plume with Saturn's Magnetosphere, EGU General Assembly, Vienna,  13. 4. - 18. 4. 2008.
   Slavin, J. A., M. H. Acuna, B. J. Anderson, D. N. Baker, M. Benna, S. A. Boardsen, G. Gloeckler, R. E. Gold, G. C. Ho, H. Korth, S. M. Krimigis, S. A. Livi, R. L. McNutt, Jr., J. M. Raines, M. Sarantos, D. Schriver, S. C. Solomon, P. Travnicek, and T. H. Zurbuchen (2008), MESSENGER Observations of Mercury's Magnetopause: Structure and Dynamics, AGU Spring Joint Assembly, Fort Lauderdale.
   Travnicek, P., D. Schriver, P. Hellinger, D. Hercik, B. J. Anderson, J. A. Slavin, D. N. Baker, T. H. Zurbuchen, S. M. Krimigis, R. L. McNutt, Jr., M. Sarantos, and S. C. Solomon (2008), Kinetic simulation of Mercury?s magnetosphere compared with observations during MESSENGER's first Mercury flyby on 14 January 2008, AGU Spring Joint Assembly, Fort Lauderdale.
   Schriver, D., P. Travnicek, J. Paral, M. Sarantos, B. J. Anderson, H. Korth, T. H. Zurbuchen, D. N. Baker, A. L. Sprague, R. M. Killen, W. E. McClintock, G. C. Ho, S. M. Krimigis, R. L. McNutt, Jr., and S. C. Solomon (2008), Heavy Ion Transport in Mercury's Magnetosphere during the MESSENGER Flyby, AGU Spring Joint Assembly, Fort Lauderdale.
   Anderson, B. J., J. A. Slavin, M. H. Acuna, H. Korth, T. H. Zurbuchen, J. M. Raines, G. Gloeckler, R. E. Gold, G. C. Ho, S. M. Krimigis, S. A. Livi, D. N. Baker, D. Schriver, P. Travnicek, M. Benna, S. A. Boardsen, R. L. McNutt, Jr., and S. C. Solomon (2008), An Overview of MESSENGER's First Encounter with Mercury's Magnetosphere, AGU Spring Joint Assembly, Fort Lauderdale.
   Khurana, K., M. K. Dougherty, Y. Jia, C. T. Russell, and P. Travnicek (2008), The interaction of Enceladus's south-pole plume with Saturn's magnetosphere, COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Montreal.
   Slavin J. A., M. H. Acuna, B. J. Anderson, D. N. Baker, M. Benna, S. A. Boardsen, G. Gloeckler, R. E. Gold, G. C. Ho, H. Korth, S. M. Krimigis, R. L. McNutt, Jr., J. M. Raines, M. Sarantos, D. Schriver, S. C. Solomon, P. Travnicek, and T. H. Zurbuchen (2008), MESSENGER observations of the response of Mercury's magnetosphere to northward and southward interplanetary magnetic field, COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Montreal.
   Travnicek, P. M., P. Hellinger, D. Schriver, D. Hercik, J. Paral, B. J. Anderson, D. N. Baker, S. M. Krimigis, R. L. McNutt, Jr., M. Sarantos, J. A. Slavin, S. C. Solomon, T. H. Zurbuchen (2008), Kinetic simulation of Mercury's magnetosphere compared with observations during MESSENGER's first flyby Mercury flyby on 14 January 2008, BepiColombo SWT meeting, Sendai.
   Sarantos, M., J. A. Slavin, M. Benna, R. M. Killen, S. Boardsen, T. H. Zurbuchen, S. M. Krimigis, D. Schriver, P. Travnicek (2008), Sodium pickup ion distribution during the first MESSENGER flyby: an event study, 3rd European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC).
   Slavin, J. A., M. H. Acuna, B. J. Anderson, M. Benna, G. Gloeckler, S. M. Krimigis, J. M. Raines, D. Schriver, P. Travnicek, and T. H. Zurbuchen (2008), MESSENGER observations of Mercury's bow shock and magnetopause, 3rd European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC).
   Schriver D., P. Travnicek, J. Paral, J. A. Slavin, M. Sarantos, B. J. Anderson, H. Korth, T. H. Zurbuchen, D. N. Baker, A. L. Sprague, R. M. Killen (2008), Ion Transport in Mercury's Magnetosphere during the MESSENGER Flyby, 3rd European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC).
   Travnicek, P, D. Schriver, P. Hellinger, D. Hercik, J. Paral, B. J. Anderson, S. M. Krimigis, R. L. McNutt, Jr., M. Sarantos, J. A. Slavin, S. C. Solomon, and T. H. Zurbuchen (2008), Kinetic simulation of Mercury's magnetosphere compared with observations during MESSENGER's first Mercury flybys on 14 January and 6 October 2008, AGU Fall General Assembly, San Francisco, 15. 12. - 19. 12. 2008.
   Somr, J., P. Travnicek, S. Stverak, K. Khurana, P. Hellinger, and M. K. Dougherty (2008), Interaction of Enceladus's Water Plume with Saturnian Magnetosphere via Hybrid Numerical Simulations, AGU Fall General Assembly, San Francisco, 15. 12. - 19. 12. 2008.
   Paral, J., P. Travnicek, R. Rankin, K. Kabin (2008), Particle Tracing of Heavy Ions in Hermean Exosphere With Applications to the MESSENGER, AGU Fall General Assembly, San Francisco, 15. 12. - 19. 12. 2008.
   Slavin, J. A., M. H.  Acuńa, B. J.  Anderson, D. Schriver, S. C. Solomon, D. N. Baker, M. Benna, S. A. Boardsen, G. Gloeckler, R. E. Gold, G. C. Ho, H. Korth, S. M.Krimigis,R. L. McNutt,J. M. Raines, M. Sarantos, P. Travnicek, T. H. Zurbuchen (2008), MESSENGER Observations of Magnetic Reconnection and its Effects on Mercury's Magnetosphere, AGU Fall General Assembly, San Francisco, 15. 12. - 19. 12. 2008.


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