2023/12/01 by Jennifer Segale, Segale, Jennifer, M. Felici +5
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) #FOS: Physical sciences #Planetary Science and Exploration #Space Physics (physics.space-ph) #Space exploration and regulation
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2312.00734
openalex publication_date 2023/12/01 · openalex created_date 2023/12/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We utilize data from the MAVEN Radio Occultation Science Experiment (Withers et al., 2020) - with unprecedented coverage in solar zenith angle - to isolate the effects that local time and season induce on the photochemical ionosphere of Mars around solar minimum, leading to solar maximum. 219 out of the 1228 electron density profiles of the Martian undisturbed - by solar events or dust storm - dayside ionosphere collected by MAVEN ROSE between July 2016 and December 2022 show a distinct M1 layer below the M2 layer. This allowed us to study the behavior of both the M2 and M1 peak densities and altitudes as a function of solar zenith angle, and, for the first time, to be able to separate these trends in dusk and dawn local time, as well as by Southern Spring and summer versus Southern Fall and Winter. We find that the M1 layer at small SZA can occur at altitudes lower than 100 km; that the peak altitudes and densities of both the M2 and M1 layers at dawn change more with season than they do at dusk; and that the M2 peak density decreases at a faster rate than the M1 with SZA.