Mars Fly-by Caption

A fly through of the magnetic fieldlines for southward IMF when the strong southern magnetic anomalies are facing into the solar wind. The surface indicates the density at a constant radius of 400 km from the surface. Redder areas indicate higher densities and thus regions protected from the solar wind by the anomalous magnetic field. Bluer regions indicate low density regions with a smaller scale height. Solar wind is funneled into these regions by reconnected magnetic field.
eharnett at ess.washington.edu
Last modified: Tue Jun 22 14:22:55 PDT 2004