Statistical analyses of the multi-scale spatial and temporal variation of Martian bow shock and magnetosheath structure

The solar wind is a plasma which constantly blows out from the sun at high speeds. It encounters Mars, producing the Solar wind-Mars interaction region. Here, the solar wind must slow down and be compressed due to conservation of energy-momentum in order to be deflected around a planet. The solar wind is traveling faster than the phase speed of the plasma - too fast to be compressed gradually, and so instead there is a sharp boundary where it transitions from fast and uncompressed to slowed down and compressed. The boundary surface is called the bow shock and the downstream compressed region is called the magnetosheath. The SW Mach numbers and plasma beta, and the amount of solar extreme ultraviolet irradiance, to name a few parameters, control the geometry of the system as well as the structures and dynamics at and downstream of the bow shock. Also important is the spatial position - of the shock with respect to Mars or the Mars-Sun line, of the equator with respect to the ecliptic plane, or of Mars with respect to the Sun. Variation in the irradiance and the geometry of the Martian orbit additionally introduce seasonal variation into the Martian atmosphere, which may drive corresponding variation in the bow shock and magnetosheath.