P21A-2086
Simulating the Effects of Solar Flares at Mars During MAVEN
Tuesday, 15 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
David J Pawlowski, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, United States and Stephen W Bougher, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Abstract:
The Mars Atmosphere Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has been taking measurements of the Martian upper atmosphere for about a year now. Among the many measurements that have been made so far, MAVEN has been able to observe both the atmosphere and the Sun during several solar flare events. These are the first simultaneous measurements of both the solar drivers and the upper atmosphere ever recorded at Mars. This study makes use of the Mars Global Ionosphere-Thermosphere Model (M-GITM) along with these observations to study the upper atmospheric response to solar flares. M-GITM is driven by solar irradiance measurements taken from the EUVM instrument onboard MAVEN and results are compared against observations from the NGIMS instrument.
