A Comparative Study of Magnetic Flux Ropes in the Nightside Induced Magnetosphere of Mars and Venus

We analyzed Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) and Venus Express (VEX) data of magnetic flux ropes observed in both Mars and Venus nightside induced magnetosphere, in order to understand their statistical characteristics and possible formation processes. We statistically identified 382 (286) events at Mars (Venus) via the minimum variance analysis and investigated the flux rope properties including their geometrical configurations of axial core field direction and spatial distributions. Interestingly, there is no significant difference with respect to the variety of the flux rope axial orientation between Mars and Venus, indicating that about at least one fourth of events do not necessitate magnetotail reconnection for their formations. However, the spatial distribution shows that flux ropes at Venus tend to be observed near the central plasma sheet, whereas those at Mars are more spread out. Moreover, the events tend to be observed more frequently in the -E hemisphere, where the solar wind electric field (E-SW) is pointing toward the planet, rather than in +E hemisphere, where the E-SW direction is away from the planet. The geographical distribution shows that flux ropes at Mars tend to be observed more frequently in the southern hemisphere where the strong crustal magnetic fields are primarily distributed. Therefore, such a tendency indicates that the Martian crustal magnetic fields could play significant roles on generating flux ropes in the nightside magnetosphere of Mars.

Automated summary

We analyzed data from MAVEN and VEX to study the characteristics and formation processes of magnetic flux ropes observed in the nightside magnetosphere of Mars and Venus. Our analysis showed that there is no significant difference in the axial orientation of flux ropes between Mars and Venus. However, flux ropes at Venus tend to be observed near the central plasma sheet, while those at Mars are more spread out. Furthermore, the frequency of occurrence of flux ropes is higher in the -E hemisphere and the southern hemisphere of Mars, indicating the significant role of crustal magnetic fields in their generation.