North–South Plasma Asymmetry Across Mercury's Near-Tail Current Sheet

Jun Zhong, Lianghai Xie, Lou Chuang Lee, James A. Slavin, Jim M. Raines, Ryan M. Dewey, Wing Huen Ip, Yoshifumi Saito, Yong Wei

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Among nearly 300 near-Mercury tail current sheet crossings performed by the MESSENGER spacecraft, we identified 37 traversals of an asymmetric current sheet, wherein the lobe densities on opposite sides differ by a factor of three or more. These asymmetric current sheet crossings primarily occur on the dawnside. A global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation was found to be in excellent agreement with the observations. The results suggest that the north–south density asymmetry is caused by solar wind entering via an upstream-connected window in one hemisphere. Furthermore, the Parker spiral interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) controls the near-tail density asymmetries, whereas Mercury's offset dipole magnetic field controls those in mid- or distant-tail regions. We propose that hemispheric asymmetries in Mercury's magnetospheric convection occur under strong IMF conditions.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2023GL106266
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume51
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 16 Jan 2024

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