Gurnett D A, Kirchner D L, Huff R L, Morgan D D, Persoon A M, Averkamp T F, Duru F, Nielsen E, Safaeinili A, Plaut J J, Picardi G
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
Science. 2005 Dec 23;310(5756):1929-33. doi: 10.1126/science.1121868. Epub 2005 Nov 30.
We report the first radar soundings of the ionosphere of Mars with the MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding) instrument on board the orbiting Mars Express spacecraft. Several types of ionospheric echoes are observed, ranging from vertical echoes caused by specular reflection from the horizontally stratified ionosphere to a wide variety of oblique and diffuse echoes. The oblique echoes are believed to arise mainly from ionospheric structures associated with the complex crustal magnetic fields of Mars. Echoes at the electron plasma frequency and the cyclotron period also provide measurements of the local electron density and magnetic field strength.
我们报告了利用轨道运行的火星快车号航天器上搭载的MARSIS（火星地下与电离层探测高级雷达）仪器对火星电离层进行的首次雷达探测。观测到了几种类型的电离层回波，从水平分层电离层的镜面反射引起的垂直回波到各种各样的斜向和漫射回波。斜向回波据信主要源自与火星复杂地壳磁场相关的电离层结构。电子等离子体频率和回旋周期处的回波还提供了当地电子密度和磁场强度的测量值。
