Interplanetary Magnetic Field Effect on the Location of the Martian Bow Shock: MAVEN Observations

The Martian bow shock (BS) is generated with the mass-loading and magnetic pileup processes when the solar wind interacts with the Martian ionosphere. In this vein, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) frozen in the solar wind can affect the location of the Martian BS, which is less reported. Based on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission, we manually identify 10,283 BS crossings during a period of the gradually declining solar cycle phase (2014 October–2020 December) and investigate the effects of the intensity and orientation of the IMF on the Martian BS. In the Mars Solar Orbital coordinate system, our results show the following: (1) The Martian BS, including the subsolar and flank regions, linearly moves away from Mars when the IMF intensity increases, which confirms the theoretical and the MHD simulation results. (2) Under the radial IMF condition, we first demonstrate that the subsolar and flank regions of the Martian BS are situated closer to Mars compared to other IMF situations. This might be caused by the weaker magnetic pileup process and the “low-pressure magnetosheath” model under the radial IMF condition. (3) Moreover, the cross section of the Martian BS is elongated in the north–south direction when the Y component of the IMF is dominant, which is on account of the fast magnetosonic speed effect and verifies the elongation phenomenon of the terrestrial BS. The IMF intensity and orientation effects cannot be ignored and should be considered in future models of the Martian BS.