Diurnal variations of energetic particle radiation at the surface of Mars as observed by the Mars Science Laboratory Radiation Assessment Detector

Scot C.R. Rafkin; Cary Zeitlin; Bent Ehresmann; Don Hassler; Jingnan Guo; Jan Köhler; Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber; Javier Gomez-Elvira; Ari-Matti Harri; Henrik Kahanpää; David E. Brinza; Gerald Weigle; Stephan Böttcher; Eckart Böhm; Söenke Burmeister; Cesar Martin; Guenther Reitz; Francis A. Cucinotta; Myung-Hee Kim; David Grinspoon; Mark A. Bullock; Arik Posner; MSL Science Team

doi:10.1002/2013JE004525

Diurnal variations of energetic particle radiation at the surface of Mars as observed by the Mars Science Laboratory Radiation Assessment Detector

Scot C.R. Rafkin^*, Cary Zeitlin, Bent Ehresmann, Don Hassler, Jingnan Guo, Jan Köhler, Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber, Javier Gomez-Elvira, Ari-Matti Harri, Henrik Kahanpää, David E. Brinza, Gerald Weigle, Stephan Böttcher, Eckart Böhm, Söenke Burmeister, Cesar Martin, Guenther Reitz, Francis A. Cucinotta, Myung-Hee Kim, David GrinspoonMark A. Bullock, Arik Posner, MSL Science Team

^*Corresponding author for this work

Geology and Geophysics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

45 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Radiation Assessment Detector onboard the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity is detecting the energetic particle radiation at the surface of Mars. Data collected over the first 350 Martian days of the nominal surface mission show a pronounced diurnal cycle in both the total dose rate and the neutral particle count rate. The diurnal variations detected by the Radiation Assessment Detector were neither anticipated nor previously considered in the literature. These cyclic variations in dose rate and count rate are shown to be the result of changes in atmospheric column mass driven by the atmospheric thermal tide that is characterized through pressure measurements obtained by the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station, also onboard the rover. In addition to bulk changes in the radiation environment, changes in atmospheric shielding forced by the thermal tide are shown to disproportionately affect heavy ions compared to H and He nuclei.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1345-1358
Number of pages	14
Journal	Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets
Volume	119
Issue number	6
Early online date	18 Jun 2014
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JE004525
Publication status	Published - Jun 2014

Bibliographical note

The authors are extremely grateful for the comments from the anonymous reviewers who greatly improved the manuscript. The data used in this paper may be retrieved from the NASA Planetary Data System. RAD is supported by NASA under JPL subcontract 1273039 to Southwest Research Institute and in Germany by Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft‐und Raumfahrt (DLR) and DLR's Space Administration grants 50QM0501 and 50QM1201 to the Christian‐Albrechts University, Kiel. A portion of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Keywords

Mars
Radiation
space weather
atmosphere
Mars Science Laboratory

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Rafkin, S. C. R., Zeitlin, C., Ehresmann, B., Hassler, D., Guo, J., Köhler, J., Wimmer-Schweingruber, R., Gomez-Elvira, J., Harri, A.-M., Kahanpää, H., Brinza, D. E., Weigle, G., Böttcher, S., Böhm, E., Burmeister, S., Martin, C., Reitz, G., Cucinotta, F. A., Kim, M.-H., ... MSL Science Team (2014). Diurnal variations of energetic particle radiation at the surface of Mars as observed by the Mars Science Laboratory Radiation Assessment Detector. Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets, 119(6), 1345-1358. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JE004525

Rafkin, SCR, Zeitlin, C, Ehresmann, B, Hassler, D, Guo, J, Köhler, J, Wimmer-Schweingruber, R, Gomez-Elvira, J, Harri, A-M, Kahanpää, H, Brinza, DE, Weigle, G, Böttcher, S, Böhm, E, Burmeister, S, Martin, C, Reitz, G, Cucinotta, FA, Kim, M-H, Grinspoon, D, Bullock, MA, Posner, A & MSL Science Team 2014, 'Diurnal variations of energetic particle radiation at the surface of Mars as observed by the Mars Science Laboratory Radiation Assessment Detector', Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets, vol. 119, no. 6, pp. 1345-1358. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JE004525

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title = "Diurnal variations of energetic particle radiation at the surface of Mars as observed by the Mars Science Laboratory Radiation Assessment Detector",

abstract = "The Radiation Assessment Detector onboard the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity is detecting the energetic particle radiation at the surface of Mars. Data collected over the first 350 Martian days of the nominal surface mission show a pronounced diurnal cycle in both the total dose rate and the neutral particle count rate. The diurnal variations detected by the Radiation Assessment Detector were neither anticipated nor previously considered in the literature. These cyclic variations in dose rate and count rate are shown to be the result of changes in atmospheric column mass driven by the atmospheric thermal tide that is characterized through pressure measurements obtained by the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station, also onboard the rover. In addition to bulk changes in the radiation environment, changes in atmospheric shielding forced by the thermal tide are shown to disproportionately affect heavy ions compared to H and He nuclei.",

keywords = "Mars, Radiation, space weather, atmosphere, Mars Science Laboratory",

author = "Rafkin, {Scot C.R.} and Cary Zeitlin and Bent Ehresmann and Don Hassler and Jingnan Guo and Jan K{\"o}hler and Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber and Javier Gomez-Elvira and Ari-Matti Harri and Henrik Kahanp{\"a}{\"a} and Brinza, {David E.} and Gerald Weigle and Stephan B{\"o}ttcher and Eckart B{\"o}hm and S{\"o}enke Burmeister and Cesar Martin and Guenther Reitz and Cucinotta, {Francis A.} and Myung-Hee Kim and David Grinspoon and Bullock, {Mark A.} and Arik Posner and {MSL Science Team} and Javier Martin-Torres",

note = "The authors are extremely grateful for the comments from the anonymous reviewers who greatly improved the manuscript. The data used in this paper may be retrieved from the NASA Planetary Data System. RAD is supported by NASA under JPL subcontract 1273039 to Southwest Research Institute and in Germany by Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft‐und Raumfahrt (DLR) and DLR's Space Administration grants 50QM0501 and 50QM1201 to the Christian‐Albrechts University, Kiel. A portion of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.",

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AU - Rafkin, Scot C.R.

AU - Zeitlin, Cary

AU - Ehresmann, Bent

AU - Hassler, Don

AU - Guo, Jingnan

AU - Köhler, Jan

AU - Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert

AU - Gomez-Elvira, Javier

AU - Harri, Ari-Matti

AU - Kahanpää, Henrik

AU - Brinza, David E.

AU - Weigle, Gerald

AU - Böttcher, Stephan

AU - Böhm, Eckart

AU - Burmeister, Söenke

AU - Martin, Cesar

AU - Reitz, Guenther

AU - Cucinotta, Francis A.

AU - Kim, Myung-Hee

AU - Grinspoon, David

AU - Bullock, Mark A.

AU - Posner, Arik

AU - MSL Science Team

AU - Martin-Torres, Javier

N1 - The authors are extremely grateful for the comments from the anonymous reviewers who greatly improved the manuscript. The data used in this paper may be retrieved from the NASA Planetary Data System. RAD is supported by NASA under JPL subcontract 1273039 to Southwest Research Institute and in Germany by Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft‐und Raumfahrt (DLR) and DLR's Space Administration grants 50QM0501 and 50QM1201 to the Christian‐Albrechts University, Kiel. A portion of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

PY - 2014/6

Y1 - 2014/6

N2 - The Radiation Assessment Detector onboard the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity is detecting the energetic particle radiation at the surface of Mars. Data collected over the first 350 Martian days of the nominal surface mission show a pronounced diurnal cycle in both the total dose rate and the neutral particle count rate. The diurnal variations detected by the Radiation Assessment Detector were neither anticipated nor previously considered in the literature. These cyclic variations in dose rate and count rate are shown to be the result of changes in atmospheric column mass driven by the atmospheric thermal tide that is characterized through pressure measurements obtained by the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station, also onboard the rover. In addition to bulk changes in the radiation environment, changes in atmospheric shielding forced by the thermal tide are shown to disproportionately affect heavy ions compared to H and He nuclei.

AB - The Radiation Assessment Detector onboard the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity is detecting the energetic particle radiation at the surface of Mars. Data collected over the first 350 Martian days of the nominal surface mission show a pronounced diurnal cycle in both the total dose rate and the neutral particle count rate. The diurnal variations detected by the Radiation Assessment Detector were neither anticipated nor previously considered in the literature. These cyclic variations in dose rate and count rate are shown to be the result of changes in atmospheric column mass driven by the atmospheric thermal tide that is characterized through pressure measurements obtained by the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station, also onboard the rover. In addition to bulk changes in the radiation environment, changes in atmospheric shielding forced by the thermal tide are shown to disproportionately affect heavy ions compared to H and He nuclei.

KW - Mars

KW - Radiation

KW - space weather

KW - atmosphere

KW - Mars Science Laboratory

U2 - 10.1002/2013JE004525

DO - 10.1002/2013JE004525

M3 - Article

SN - 2169-9097

VL - 119

SP - 1345

EP - 1358

JO - Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets

JF - Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets

IS - 6

ER -

Diurnal variations of energetic particle radiation at the surface of Mars as observed by the Mars Science Laboratory Radiation Assessment Detector

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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