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MESSENGER Observations of Extreme Magnetic Tail Loading and Unloading During its Third Flyby of Mercury: Substorms?During MESSENGER's third flyby of Mercury on September 29, 2009, a variable interplanetary magnetic field produced a series of several minute enhancements of the tail magnetic field hy factors of approx. 2 to 3.5. The magnetic field flaring during these intervals indicates that they result from loading of the tail with magnetic flux transferred from the dayside magnetosphere. The unloading intervals were associated with plasmoids and traveling compression regions, signatures of tail reconnection. The peak tail magnetic flux during the smallest loading events equaled 30% of the magnetic flux emanating from Mercury, and may have reached 100% for the largest event. In this case the dayside magnetic shielding is reduced and solar wind flux impacting the surface may be greatly enhanced. Despite the intensity of these events and their similarity to terrestrial substorm magnetic flux dynamics, no energetic charged particles with energies greater than 36 keV were observed.
Document ID
20100014874
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Slavin, James A.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Anderson, Brian J.
(Johns Hopkins Univ. Laurel, MD, United States)
Baker, Daniel N.
(Colorado Univ. Boulder, CO, United States)
Benna, Mehdi
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Gloeckler, George
(Maryland Univ. Baltimore County Baltimore, MD, United States)
Krimigis, Stamatios M.
(Johns Hopkins Univ. Laurel, MD, United States)
McNutt, Ralph L., Jr.
(Johns Hopkins Univ. Laurel, MD, United States)
Schriver, David
(Carnegie Institution of Washington Washington, DC, United States)
Solomon, Sean C.
(Carnegie Institution of Washington Washington, DC, United States)
Zurbuchen, Thomas H.
(Michigan Univ. Ann Arbor, MI, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2010
Publication Information
Publication: Geophysical Research Abstracts, EGU2010-PREVIEW, 2010
Volume: 12
Subject Category
Space Sciences (General)
Meeting Information
Meeting: European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2010
Location: Vienna
Country: Austria
Start Date: May 2, 2010
End Date: May 7, 2010
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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