Variability of the Incompressible Energy Cascade Rate in Solar Wind Turbulence around Mars

Abstract

We present a statistical analysis on the variability of the incompressible energy cascade rate in the solar wind around Mars, making use of an exact relation for fully developed turbulence and more than five years of Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) observations. Using magnetic field and plasma data, we compute the energy cascade rate at the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) scales in the pristine solar wind. From our statistical results, we conclude that the incompressible energy cascade rate decreases as the Martian heliocentric distance increases, for each of the three explored Martian years. Moreover, we suggest that the presence of proton cyclotron waves, associated with the extended Martian hydrogen exosphere, do not have a significant effect on the nonlinear cascade of energy at the MHD scales.