Global Occurrence of Kelvin‐Helmholtz Vortices at Mars

Abstract We analyzed six Kelvin‐Helmholtz (K‐H) vortex events from Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) measurements. We found that fully developed vortices can occur at Mars' equatorial flanks and in the southern hemisphere, while they were previously observed only in the northern hemisphere. This implies that they do not exhibit a hemispheric asymmetry, and may occur globally as long as onset conditions are satisfied. We also estimated growth rates of – , and found that the inclusion of heavy planetary ions reduces growth rates while increasing the directions over which K‐H instability occurs. We calculated instantaneous ion loss rates due to detachment of K‐H vortices of – , rivaling other loss mechanisms in contributing to Mars' global atmospheric escape. The inferred higher occurrence rate of K‐H instability at Mars over a larger spatial domain strongly suggests a more significant contribution to overall atmospheric loss than previously thought.

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Publication Details

Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Published
2025-11-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl117836
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Planetary Science and Exploration
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.15

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article

Global Occurrence of Kelvin‐Helmholtz Vortices at Mars

K. G. Hanley, Xuanye Ma, Gangkai Poh, W. Sun et al.
1 citations
Geophysical Research Letters
Planetary Science and Exploration
1.15
article

Global Occurrence of Kelvin‐Helmholtz Vortices at Mars

K. G. Hanley, Xuanye Ma, Gangkai Poh, W. Sun, J. R. Espley, Ze‐Wen Koh, C. M. Fowler, Dona Chathuni P. Kuruppuaratchi, G. A. DiBraccio, J. Gruesbeck
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Abstract We analyzed six Kelvin‐Helmholtz (K‐H) vortex events from Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) measurements. We found that fully developed vortices can occur at Mars' equatorial flanks and in the southern hemisphere, while they were previously observed only in the northern hemisphere. This implies that they do not exhibit a hemispheric asymmetry, and may occur globally as long as onset conditions are satisfied. We also estimated growth rates of – , and found that the inclusion of heavy planetary ions reduces growth rates while increasing the directions over which K‐H instability occurs. We calculated instantaneous ion loss rates due to detachment of K‐H vortices of – , rivaling other loss mechanisms in contributing to Mars' global atmospheric escape. The inferred higher occurrence rate of K‐H instability at Mars over a larger spatial domain strongly suggests a more significant contribution to overall atmospheric loss than previously thought.

Geophysical Research LettersVol. 52(22)
West Virginia University (US), Goddard Space Flight Center (US), University of America (US), Heliophysics (US), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), University of Maryland, College Park (US), Catholic University of America (US), Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University (US), University of California, Berkeley (US)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, Goddard Space Flight Center, Planetary Science Division
Openalex Percentile: Top 15%
Planetary Science and Exploration
1.15
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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