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Science 4 November 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5749, pp. 837 - 839
DOI: 10.1126/science.1117755
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Reports

A Sporadic Third Layer in the Ionosphere of Mars

M. Pätzold,1* S. Tellmann,1 B. Häusler,2 D. Hinson,3 R. Schaa,1 G. L. Tyler3

The daytime martian ionosphere has been observed as a two-layer structure with electron densities that peak at altitudes between about 110 and 130 kilometers. The Mars Express Orbiter Radio Science Experiment on the European Mars Express spacecraft observed, in 10 out of 120 electron density profiles, a third ionospheric layer at altitude ranges of 65 to 110 kilometers, where electron densities, on average, peaked at 0.8 x 1010 per cubic meter. Such a layer has been predicted to be permanent and continuous. Its origin has been attributed to ablation of meteors and charge exchange of magnesium and iron. Our observations imply that this layer is present sporadically and locally.

1 Institut für Geophysik und Meteorologie, Universität zu Köln, Cologne, Germany.
2 Institut für Raumfahrttechnik, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Neubiberg, Germany.
3 Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305–4020, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: paetzold{at}geo.uni-koeln.de

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Radar Soundings of the Ionosphere of Mars.
D. A. Gurnett, D. L. Kirchner, R. L. Huff, D. D. Morgan, A. M. Persoon, T. F. Averkamp, F. Duru, E. Nielsen, A. Safaeinili, J. J. Plaut, et al. (2005)
Science 310, 1929-1933
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