<p>24-Feb-2020 NASA News item <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8613/a-year-of-surprising-science-from-nasas-insight-mars-mission/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A Year of Surprising Science From NASA's InSight Mars Mission</a> says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A new understanding of Mars is beginning to emerge, thanks to the first year of NASA's InSight lander mission. Findings described in a set of six papers published today reveal a planet alive with quakes, dust devils <strong>and strange magnetic pulses.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>and later:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In addition, scientists are intrigued by how these signals change over time. The measurements vary by day and night; <strong>they also tend to pulse around midnight. Theories are still being formed as to what causes such changes, but one possibility is that they're related to the solar wind interacting with the Martian atmosphere.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> Okay, how could the solar wind cause magnetic pulses <strong>at midnight</strong>, when the Sun is on the opposite side of the planet?</p>
<p><strong>Possibly helpful:</strong> <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021JA030238" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Discrete Aurora at Mars: Dependence on Upstream Solar Wind Conditions</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-26T04:58:51.970Z
companion question: [Mars' strange magnetic pulses at midnight; besides the solar wind what are other possible causes?](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/19324/6031)
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-26T09:02:19.033Z
Good question. I've been through the paper (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0537-x), but there is only one half sentence about this: "We speculate that the former type of pulsations may be associated with oscillations in the electric current sheet in the induced magnetotail [...]".
Jean-Marie Prival
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-13T15:59:50.490Z
@Jean-MariePrival just fyi I've added a bounty...
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-13T19:15:30.147Z
is this only local or is it planet wide,the lander measures this from only one area.
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-13T22:02:24.360Z
@trondhansen that's a very good question! Besides the insight lander I don't know if there are any other magnetometers on Mars' surface capable of this kind of measurement. **update:** [InSight’s magnetometer, **the first placed on the Martian surface**, gave scientists their best look yet at the crustal magnetic field, and it gave them a bit of a shock: The magnetic field near the robot was around 20 times stronger than what had been predicted based on past orbital measurements.](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/09/mars-insight-feels-mysterious-magnetic-pulsations-at-midnight/)
uhoh
<planetary-science><geomagnetism><sun><solar-terrestrial-physics><mars>
How could the solar wind cause strange magnetic pulses on Mars at midnight?
uhoh
# How could the solar wind cause strange magnetic pulses on Mars at midnight?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-02-26)

24-Feb-2020 NASA News item [A Year of Surprising Science From NASA's InSight Mars Mission](https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8613/a-year-of-surprising-science-from-nasas-insight-mars-mission/) says:

> A new understanding of Mars is beginning to emerge, thanks to the first year of NASA's InSight lander mission. Findings described in a set of six papers published today reveal a planet alive with quakes, dust devils **and strange magnetic pulses.**

and later:

> In addition, scientists are intrigued by how these signals change over time. The measurements vary by day and night; **they also tend to pulse around midnight. Theories are still being formed as to what causes such changes, but one possibility is that they're related to the solar wind interacting with the Martian atmosphere.**

**Question:** Okay, how could the solar wind cause magnetic pulses **at midnight**, when the Sun is on the opposite side of the planet?

**Possibly helpful:** [Discrete Aurora at Mars: Dependence on Upstream Solar Wind Conditions](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021JA030238)

**Tags:** planetary-science, geomagnetism, sun, solar-terrestrial-physics, mars

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: companion question: [Mars' strange magnetic pulses at midnight; besides the solar wind what are other possible causes?](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/19324/6031)  
> **username_1**: Good question. I've been through the paper (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0537-x), but there is only one half sentence about this: "We speculate that the former type of pulsations may be associated with oscillations in the electric current sheet in the induced magnetotail [...]".  
> **username_0**: @username_1 just fyi I've added a bounty...  
> **username_2**: is this only local or is it planet wide,the lander measures this from only one area.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 that's a very good question! Besides the insight lander I don't know if there are any other magnetometers on Mars' surface capable of this kind of measurement. **update:** [InSight’s magnetometer, **the first placed on the Martian surface**, gave scientists their best look yet at the crustal magnetic field, and it gave them a bit of a shock: The magnetic field near the robot was around 20 times stronger than what had been predicted based on past orbital measurements.](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/09/mars-insight-feels-mysterious-magnetic-pulsations-at-midnight/)  

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## 0 answers

