Structure of Mercury’s core and lithospheric magnetic fields from MESSENGER data

Year 1: We will implement the estimation of magnetic fields due to the Birkeland currents, as described in Section 4.2, in preparation for core and crustal field modeling. This will involve contributions from Co-I Johnson for the estimation and subtraction of magnetospheric model from MESSENGER PDS data. Initial results will be presented at the LPSC or Fall AGU meeting (budgeted here for LPSC).

Year 2: Co-I Johnson will guide the evaluation of the core field models and their comparison with the data. She will lead the interpretation of core field models in terms of dynamo processes (Section 4.5) and assist in preparation of a journal article on the core-field results. She will assist with the production of initial lithospheric models, specifically with (a) how well they fit the data and (b) how the regional spherical harmonic field models and magnetizations derived from them generated under this funding compare with her own models to-date built from equivalent source dipoles. She will co-author LPSC conference presentation(s) on either final core field results and/or initial lithospheric field results.

Year 3: Co-I Johnson will lead the interpretation of the lithospheric field models and assist with production of a manuscript on this. She will co-author LPSC conference presentation(s) on these results. Software and core/lithospheric models will be archived through supplemental information in the publication and also at the PI’s GitHub archive.