Recovery Timescales of the Dayside Martian Magnetosphere to IMF Variability

Overview & Synopsis

In this work we revisit an event observed by Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution MissioN (MAVEN) in the solar wind where the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) rotates around the Mars‐Sun axis during approximately 6 minutes. Based on a time‐dependent LATMOS Hybrid Simulation, we determine recovery timescales of the dayside Martian magnetosphere normalized by the IMF variability timescale. Particularly, we find that such recovery timescales range between 8 s and 11 min for an ~90° IMF rotation that lasted 50 s (observed as part of the 6 minutes time interval), depending on the considered magnetospheric region. We also find that the O+ plume recovery timescales range between 40 s and 120 s, taking greater values for further downstream distances (at least up to 1 RM downstream from the terminator plane). This range is on the order of the magnetosheath O+ gyroperiod, showing the kinetic nature of the plume recovery process.