High-Frequency Plasma Waves:
Scientists have detected the existence of high-frequency plasma waves in the Martian Upper Atmosphere with novel narrowband and broadband features that can help to understand plasma processes in the Martian plasma environment.
- Scientists have examined the existence of high-frequency plasma waves in the Martian plasma environment by making use of the high-resolution electric field data from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) spacecraft of NASA.
- These waves could be either electron oscillations that propagate parallel to the background magnetic field (Langmuir waves) or electron oscillations that propagate perpendicular to the background magnetic field (upper-hybrid type waves) in the magneto sheath region of Mars.
- They observed two distinct wave modes with frequency below and above the electron plasma frequency in the Martian magnetosphere.
- These waves are either broadband- or narrowband-type with distinguishable features in the frequency domain.
- The broadband waves were consistently found to have periodic patchy structures with a periodicity of 8–14 milliseconds.
Plasma waves:
- These waves are often observed in the Earth’s magnetosphere, a magnetic field cavity around the Earth.
- In general, plasma waves are identified as the short-time scale fluctuations in the electric and magnetic field observations.
- These plasma waves play an important role in the energization and transport of the charged particles in the Earth’s magnetosphere.
