Sánchez–Cano, B, Blelly, P-L, Lester, M et al. (13 more authors) (2019) Origin of the extended Mars radar blackout of September 2017. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 124 (6). pp. 4556-4568. ISSN 2169-9380
Abstract
The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) on board Mars Express, which operates between 0.1 and 5.5 MHz, suffered from a complete blackout for 10 days in September 2017 when observing on the nightside (a rare occurrence). Moreover, the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which operates at 20 MHz, also suffered a blackout for 3 days when operating on both day and nightsides. We propose that these blackouts are caused by solar energetic particles (SEP) of few tens of keV and above associated with an extreme space weather event between 10 and 22 September 2017, as recorded by the MAVEN mission. Numerical simulations of energetic electron precipitation predict that a lower O2+ nighttime ionospheric layer of magnitude ~1010 m‐3 peaking at ~90 km altitude is produced. Consequently, such a layer would absorb radar signals at HF frequencies and explain the blackouts. The peak absorption level is found to be at 70km altitude.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | (c) 2019, The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/], which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Mars' ionsphere; radar blackout; electron precipitation; space weather; solar energetic particles |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemistry (Leeds) > Physical Chemistry (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 08 May 2019 15:31 |
Last Modified: | 30 Aug 2019 13:36 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Geophysical Union |
Identification Number: | 10.1029/2018JA026403 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:145722 |
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