Journal article
SWFITEM: Solar Wind Fitting for Investigations of Thermodynamics and Energetics at Mars - A MAVEN dataset
Scientific data
01/13/2026
DOI: 10.1038/s41597-025-06530-3
PMID: 41526399
Abstract
Solar wind measurements by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission provide samples of the heliosphere at 1.38-1.67 AU, and of the upstream conditions that drive numerous processes in the near-Mars plasma environment. We reduce ion measurements from MAVEN's Solar Wind Ion Analyzer (SWIA), using contextual magnetic field measurements, to 13 independent macroscopic plasma parameters by fitting a convolution of SWIA's 3-dimensional response function and a superposition of phase-space bi-kappa distribution functions to each measured distribution using an iterative Poisson optimization scheme. This ensemble of parameters represents the solar wind H
core, H
beam, and He
(alpha) populations, effectively separating each population's contribution to any measured distribution. Sporadic plasma frequency measurements from MAVEN's Langmuir Probe and Waves (LPW) instrument are used to calibrate the SWIA measurements such that ion charge densities match LPW-derived electron charge densities. The resulting dataset is effectively ground-truthed, largely corrected for instrumental particularities, and provides a rich timeline of solar wind properties at Mars, including composition, velocities, temperature anisotropies, differential drifts, and degree of thermalization.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- SWFITEM: Solar Wind Fitting for Investigations of Thermodynamics and Energetics at Mars - A MAVEN dataset
- Creators
- Robin Ramstad - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space PhysicsJasper Halekas - University of IowaLaila Andersson - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space PhysicsDavid Brain - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space PhysicsJared Espley - Goddard Space Flight CenterDavid Mitchell - University of California, BerkeleyJames McFadden - University of California, BerkeleyAlexandros Chapasis - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space PhysicsYaxue Dong - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space PhysicsNadia Gonzales - The University of Texas at AustinShannon Curry - University of Colorado Boulder
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Scientific data
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41597-025-06530-3
- PMID
- 41526399
- NLM abbreviation
- Sci Data
- ISSN
- 2052-4463
- eISSN
- 2052-4463
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Grant note
- 22-PDAR22-0012 / National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 01/13/2026
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9985121500602771
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