NASA’s MAVEN Makes 1st Discovery of Atmospheric Effect at Mars
In December 2023, scientists looking at Mars data stumbled across something completely unexpected — observations of an atmospheric effect never before seen in the Red Planet’s atmosphere. Using instruments aboard NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission, scientists identified a phenomenon known to occur in Earth’s magnetosphere, where charged particles are squeezed like toothpaste coming out of a tube along magnetic structures called flux tubes. This so-called Zwan-Wolf effect aids in the deflection of solar wind around Earth and has been observed and studied there for decades. Now, a new study published in Nature Communications provides the first comprehensive observations of the same effect in Mars’ atmosphere. An artistic representation of the Zwan-Wolf effect at Mars, as observed by NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission. While this effect typically helps to deflect the solar wind at Earth, at Mars it is shown to “squeeze” the atmosp...
