Journal article
Closed magnetic topology in the Venusian magnetotail and ion escape at Venus
Nature communications, Vol.15(1), 6065
07/18/2024
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50480-0
Abstract
Venus, lacking an intrinsic global dipole magnetic field, serves as a textbook example of an induced magnetosphere, formed by interplanetary magnetic fields (IMF) enveloping the planet. Yet, various aspects of its magnetospheric dynamics and planetary ion outflows are complex and not well understood. Here we analyze plasma and magnetic field data acquired during the fourth Venus flyby of the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission and show evidence for closed topology in the nightside and downstream portion of the Venus magnetosphere (i.e., the magnetotail). The formation of the closed topology involves magnetic reconnection—a process rarely observed at non-magnetized planets. In addition, our study provides an evidence linking the cold Venusian ion flow in the magnetotail directly to magnetic connectivity to the ionosphere, akin to observations at Mars. These findings not only help the understanding of the complex ion flow patterns at Venus but also suggest that magnetic topology is one piece of key information for resolving ion escape mechanisms and thus the atmospheric evolution across various planetary environments and exoplanets.Magnetic reconnection dynamics in Venus’ magnetosphere are not well-known due to limited observations. Here, the authors show direct evidence for closed magnetic topology in Venus’ magnetotail and a link between the cold ion flow in the magnetotail and its direct magnetic connectivity to the ionosphere.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Closed magnetic topology in the Venusian magnetotail and ion escape at Venus
- Creators
- Shaosui Xu - University of California, BerkeleyDavid L Mitchell - University of California, BerkeleyPhyllis Whittlesey - University of California, BerkeleyAli Rahmati - University of California, BerkeleyRoberto Livi - University of California, BerkeleyDavin Larson - University of California, BerkeleyJanet G Luhmann - University of California, BerkeleyJasper S Halekas - University of IowaTakuya Hara - University of California, BerkeleyJames P McFadden - University of California, BerkeleyMarc Pulupa - University of California, BerkeleyStuart D Bale - University of California, BerkeleyShannon M Curry - University of California, BerkeleyMoa Persson - Swedish Institute of Space Physics
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Nature communications, Vol.15(1), 6065
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41467-024-50480-0
- ISSN
- 2041-1723
- eISSN
- 2041-1723
- Grant note
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): NNN06AA01C Star (LWS) program: 80NSSC21K0151
We acknowledge support from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission and the FIELDS and Solar Wind Electrons, Alphas, and Protons (SWEAP) teams through contract NNN06AA01C. PSP was designed, built, and is now operated by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory as part of NASA's Living with a Star (LWS) program. S.X. acknowledges support from NASA's Solar System Working Program, grant #80NSSC21K0151.DAS:All data used in this paper are public. The PSP data is publicly archived at https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/data/psp/. FIELDS data can be found at https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/data/psp/fields/. SPAN-e data can be found at https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/data/psp/sweap/spe/. SPAN-i can be found at https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/data/psp/sweap/spi/. The source data files for the figures in this current study have been deposited in a Zenodo repository (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11404158). The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon request. Source data are provided with this paper.
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/18/2024
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984658258202771
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