The Martian paleo-magnetosphere during the early Naochian and its implication for the early Martian atmosphere
- Author(s)
- Maxim L. Khodachenko, Manuel Scherf, Ute Amerstorfer, Igor Alexeev, Colin Johnstone, Lin Tu, Manuel Güdel
- Abstract
During the late 1990's the Mars Global Surveyor MAG/ER experiment detected crustal remanent magnetization at Mars indicating an ancient internal magnetic dynamo. The location of this remanent magnetization and in particular its absence at the large Martian impact craters like Hellas suggests a cessation of the dynamo during the early Naochian epoch, i.e. ~ 4.1 to 4 billion years ago. The strength of the remanent magnetization together with dynamo theory are indicating an ancient dipole field strength lying in the range of ~0.1 and ~1.0 of the present-day dipole field of the Earth, making the Martian paleo-magnetosphere comparable with the terrestrial paleo-magnetosphere. This also has implication for the early Martian atmosphere.In this poster we will present simulations of the paleo-magnetosphere of Mars for the early Naochian, just before cessation (i.e. for ~4.1 to ~4.0 billion years ago). These were performed with an adapted version of the Paraboloid Magnetospheric Model (PMM) of the Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Moscow State University, which serves as an ISO standard for the magnetosphere. Here the ancient magnetic field was assumed to be a dipole field (with dipole tilt ψ=0). The ancient solar wind ram pressure as important input parameter was derived from a newly developed solar/stellar wind evolution model, which is strongly dependent on the rotation rate of the early Sun. These simulations show that for the most extreme case of a fast rotating Sun and a paleomagnetic field strength of 0.1 of the present-day Earth value, the Martian magnetopause was located at ~5.5 RM (i.e. ~2.9 RE) above the Martian surface. Assuming a strong dipole field (i.e. 1.0 of present-day Earth) and a slow rotating Sun - our least extreme case - would lead to a standoff-distance of rs~16 RM (i.e. ~8.5 RE).Our simulations also have implications for the early Martian atmosphere, which will be demonstrated within this poster. These first results on the erosion of the early Martian atmosphere take into account the paleo-magnetosphere, the enhanced EUV-flux and solar wind conditions during the early Naochian epoch.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Astrophysics
- External organisation(s)
- Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW), Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin
- Publication date
- 10-2016
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103004 Astrophysics, 103003 Astronomy
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/ebb6839e-c670-4c2b-b607-f37c98eb0219