Chuanfei Dong

MAVEN observations of the response of Mars to an interplanetary coronal mass ejection

Coupling between the lower and upper atmosphere, combined with loss of gas from the upper atmosphere to space, likely contributed to the thin, cold, dry atmosphere of modern Mars. To help understand ongoing ion loss to space, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft made comprehensive measurements of the Mars upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the Sun and solar wind during an interplanetary coronal mass ejection impact in March 2015. Responses include changes in the bow shock and magnetosheath, formation of widespread diffuse aurora, and enhancement of pick-up ions. Observations and models both show an enhancement in escape rate of ions to space during the event. Ion loss during solar events early in Mars history may have been a major contributor to the long-term evolution of the Mars atmosphere.

The spatial distribution of planetary ion fluxes near Mars observed by MAVEN

We present the results of an initial effort to statistically map the fluxes of planetary ions on a closed surface around Mars. Choosing a spherical shell ~1000 km above the planet, we map both outgoing and incoming ion fluxes (with energies >25 eV) over a 4 month period. The results show net escape of planetary ions behind Mars and strong fluxes of escaping ions from the northern hemisphere with respect to the solar wind convection electric field. Planetary ions also travel toward the planet, and return fluxes are particularly strong in the southern electric field hemisphere. We obtain a lower bound estimate for planetary ion escape of ~3 × 1024 s−1, accounting for the ~10% of ions that return toward the planet and assuming that the ~70% of the surface covered so far is representative of the regions not yet visited by Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN).

Solar wind interaction with Mars upper atmosphere: Results from the one‐way coupling between the multifluid MHD model and the MTGCM model

The 3-D multifluid Block Adaptive Tree Solar-wind Roe Upwind Scheme (BATS-R-US) MHD code (MF-MHD) is coupled with the 3-D Mars Thermospheric general circulation model (MTGCM). The ion escape rate from the Martian upper atmosphere is investigated by using a one-way coupling approach, i.e., the MF-MHD model incorporates the effects of 3-D neutral atmosphere profiles from the MTGCM model. The calculations are carried out for two cases with different solar cycle conditions. The calculated total ion escape flux (the sum of three major ionospheric species, O+, O2+, and CO2+) for solar cycle maximum conditions (6.6×1024 s−1) is about 2.6 times larger than that of solar cycle minimum conditions (2.5×1024 s−1). Our simulation results show good agreement with recent observations of 2–3×1024 s−1 (O+, O2+, and CO2+) measured near solar cycle minimum conditions by Mars Express. An extremely high solar wind condition is also simulated which may mimic the condition of coronal mass ejections or corotating interaction regions passing Mars. Simulation results show that it can lead to a significant value of the escape flux as large as 4.3×1025s−1.

Early MAVEN Deep Dip campaign reveals thermosphere and ionosphere variability

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission, during the second of its Deep Dip campaigns, made comprehensive measurements of martian thermosphere and ionosphere composition, structure, and variability at altitudes down to ~130 kilometers in the subsolar region. This altitude range contains the diffusively separated upper atmosphere just above the well-mixed atmosphere, the layer of peak extreme ultraviolet heating and primary reservoir for atmospheric escape. In situ measurements of the upper atmosphere reveal previously unmeasured populations of neutral and charged particles, the homopause altitude at approximately 130 kilometers, and an unexpected level of variability both on an orbit-to-orbit basis and within individual orbits. These observations help constrain volatile escape processes controlled by thermosphere and ionosphere structure and variability.

Effects of crustal field rotation on the solar wind plasma interaction with Mars

The crustal remnant field on Mars rotates with the planet at a period of 24 h 37 min, constantly varying the magnetic field configuration interacting with the solar wind. Until now, there has been no self-consistent modeling investigation on how this varying magnetic field affects the solar wind plasma interaction. Here we include the rotation of this localized crustal field in a multispecies single-fluid MHD model of Mars and simulate an entire day of solar wind interaction under normal solar wind conditions. The MHD model results are compared with Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) magnetic field observations and show very close agreement, especially for the field strength along almost all of the 12 orbits on the day simulated. Model results also show that the ion escape rates slowly vary with rotation, generally anticorrelating with the strength of subsolar magnetic crustal sources, with some time delay. In addition, it is found that in the intense crustal field regions, the densities of heavy ion components enhance significantly along the MGS orbit, implying strong influence of the crustal field on the ionospheric structures.

Effects of prediction feedback in multi-route intelligent traffic systems

We first study the influence of an efficient feedback strategy named the prediction feedback strategy (PFS) based on a multi-route scenario in which dynamic information can be generated and displayed on the board to guide road users to make a choice. In this scenario, our model incorporates the effects of adaptability into the cellular automaton models of traffic flow. Simulation results adopting this optimal information feedback strategy have demonstrated high efficiency in controlling spatial distribution of traffic patterns compared with the other three information feedback strategies, i.e., vehicle number and flux. At the end of this paper, we also discuss in what situation PFS will become invalid in multi-route systems.

Solar wind interaction with the Martian upper atmosphere: Crustal field orientation, solar cycle, and seasonal variations

A comprehensive study of the solar wind interaction with the Martian upper atmosphere is presented. Three global models: the 3-D Mars multifluid Block Adaptive Tree Solar-wind Roe Upwind Scheme MHD code (MF-MHD), the 3-D Mars Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model (M-GITM), and the Mars exosphere Monte Carlo model Adaptive Mesh Particle Simulator (M-AMPS) were used in this study. These models are one-way coupled; i.e., the MF-MHD model uses the 3-D neutral inputs from M-GITM and the 3-D hot oxygen corona distribution from M-AMPS. By adopting this one-way coupling approach, the Martian upper atmosphere ion escape rates are investigated in detail with the combined variations of crustal field orientation, solar cycle, and Martian seasonal conditions. The calculated ion escape rates are compared with Mars Express observational data and show reasonable agreement. The variations in solar cycles and seasons can affect the ion loss by a factor of ∼3.3 and ∼1.3, respectively. The crustal magnetic field has a shielding effect to protect Mars from solar wind interaction, and this effect is the strongest for perihelion conditions, with the crustal field facing the Sun. Furthermore, the fraction of cold escaping heavy ionospheric molecular ions [( 2+ and/or 2+)/Total] are inversely proportional to the fraction of the escaping (ionospheric and corona) atomic ion [O+/Total], whereas 2+ and 2+ ion escape fractions show a positive linear correlation since both ion species are ionospheric ions that follow the same escaping path.

Implications of MAVEN Mars near‐wake measurements and models

Mars is typically viewed as a member of the category of weakly magnetized planets, with a largely induced magnetosphere and magnetotail produced by the draped fields of the solar wind interaction. However, selected MAVEN suprathermal electron and magnetic field observations in the near wake, sampled along its elliptical orbit during the early prime mission at altitudes ranging from its ~150 km periapsis to the tail magnetosheath, reinforce a picture seen in an MHD model where magnetic fields are rooted in the planet throughout much of the Martian magnetotail.  The Mars-solar wind interaction has often been viewed as a largely induced (Venus-like) magnetosphere type.  In contrast, MHD models of the interaction suggest much of its wake magnetic flux may be rooted in Mars.  MAVEN suprathermal electron anisotropy measurements, together with magnetic field measurements show some support for this alternate picture, at least at the present epoch.

Test particle comparison of heavy atomic and molecular ion distributions at Mars

This study uses the Mars Test Particle simulation to create virtual detections of O+, O2+, and CO2+ in an orbital configuration in the Mars space environment. These atomic and molecular planetary pickup ions are formed when the solar wind directly interacts with the neutral atmosphere, causing the ions to be accelerated by the background convective electric field. The subsequent ion escape is the subject of great interest, specifically with respect to which species dominates ion loss from Mars. O+ is found to be the dominant escaping ion because of the large sources of transported ions in the low-energy ( 1 keV) range. O2+ and CO2+ are observed at these energy ranges but with much lower fluxes and are generally only found in the tail between 10 eV and 1 keV. Using individual particle traces, we reveal the origin and trajectories of the low-energy downtail O+ populations and high-energy polar O+ populations that contribute to the total escape. Comparing them against O2+ and CO2+ reveals that the extended hot oxygen corona contributes to source regions of high- and low-energy escaping ions. Additionally, we present results for solar minimum and maximum conditions with respect to ion fluxes and energies in order to robustly describe the physical processes controlling planetary ion distributions and atmospheric escape.

Real-time information feedback based on a sharp decay weighted function

Abstract Information feedback strategy, serving as the critical part of intelligent traffic systems, has been treated with growing emphasis. In recent years, a variety of feedback strategies have been proposed. Despite the fact that these strategies have been proved to enhance the traffic efficiency, we find that the road capacity has not been saturated and there is still plenty of room for improvement. Based on the analytic approximations, we found the reason why corresponding angle feedback strategy is superior to weighted congestion coefficient feedback strategy. Given that the sharp decay of the weighted coefficient is the key point, we proposed an efficient feedback strategy called the exponential function feedback strategy (EFFS). We applied it to both the symmetrical two-route model with two exits and that with a single exit. The simulation results indicate that, compared with other strategies, EFFS has decided numerical advantages in average flow, a physical quantity used for depicting the road capacity. Even more importantly, EFFS stands out for its convenient application as well as its fitness for modeling the rugged roads.