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Magnetic storms in Mercury’s magnetosphere

Science China Technological Sciences volume 65, pages 1427–1432 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

We present evidence of geomagnetic storms in Mercury’s magnetosphere based on MESSENGER magnetic field observations made just before the probe impacted the planet. Our findings answer the question of whether geomagnetic storms can occur in other planetary magnetospheres. The interaction of the solar wind with Mercury’s magnetosphere is known to involve flux transfer events in the dayside magnetosphere, plasmoids and flux ropes in the magnetotail, and substorm-like processes, all of which occur morphologically similar to Earth but with significant differences. The significantly weaker magnetic field, smaller magnetosphere, and much faster timescale of processes around Mercury, when compared with Earth, enable charged particles to escape its magnetosphere more efficiently through magnetopause shadowing and direct bombard of the surface. Our analysis of MESSENGER’s data during a coronal mass ejection (CME) proves that, despite these substantial differences, a bifurcated ring current can form in Mercury’s magnetosphere that initiates magnetic storms under strong solar wind driving.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    QiuGang Zong, JiuTong Zhao & SuiYan Fu

  2. Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai, 2000136, China

    QiuGang Zong & JianJun Liu

  3. Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109, USA

    WeiJie Sun

  4. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, 99775, USA

    Hui Zhang

  5. ITM Laboratory, Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, 20771, USA

    Guan Le

  6. Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G2R3, Canada

    Robert Rankin

  7. Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Yong Wei

Authors
  1. QiuGang Zong
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  2. JiuTong Zhao
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  3. JianJun Liu
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  4. SuiYan Fu
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  5. WeiJie Sun
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  6. Hui Zhang
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  7. Guan Le
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  8. Robert Rankin
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  9. Yong Wei
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to QiuGang Zong or JianJun Liu.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Major Project of Chinese National Programs for Fundamental Research and Development (Grant No. 2021YFA0718600), China Space Agency Project (Grant No. D020301), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42011530080). We are grateful to the MESSENGER Magnetometer and Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) teams for providing the data. R. Rankin acknowledges financial support from the Canadian Space Agency and NSERC. ZHANG Hui is partially supported by National Science Foundation (Grant No. AGS-1352669).

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Zong, Q., Zhao, J., Liu, J. et al. Magnetic storms in Mercury’s magnetosphere. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 65, 1427–1432 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2009-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2009-8

  • magnetic storm
  • Mercury magnetosphere
  • ring current