MESSENGER Observations of Planetary Ion Enhancements at Mercury's Northern Magnetospheric Cusp During Flux Transfer Event Showers

At Mercury, several processes can release ions and neutrals out of the planet's surface. Here we present enhancements of planetary ions (Na⁺-group ions) in Mercury's northern magnetospheric cusp during flux transfer event (FTE) "showers." FTE showers are intervals of intense dayside magnetopause reconnection, during which FTEs are observed in quick succession, that is, only separated by a few seconds. This study identifies 1953 FTE shower intervals and 1795 Non-FTE shower intervals. During the shower intervals, this study shows that the FTEs form a solar wind entry layer equatorward of the northern magnetospheric cusp. In this entry layer, solar wind ions are accelerated and move downward (i.e., planetward) toward the cusp, which sputter upward-moving planetary ions with a particle flux of 1 × 10¹¹ m^-2 s^-1 within 1 min. The precipitation rate is estimated to increase by an order of magnitude during FTE showers, to 2 × 10²⁵ s^-1, and the neutral density of the exosphere could vary by >10% in response to this FTE-driven sputtering. Such rapid large-scale variations driven by dayside reconnection may explain the minute-to-minute changes in Mercury's exosphere, especially on the high latitudes, observed by ground-based telescopes on Earth. Our MESSENGER in situ observation of enhanced planetary ions in the entry layer likely corresponds to an escape channel for Mercury's planetary ions. Comprehensive, future multipoint measurements made by BepiColombo will greatly enhance our understanding of the processes contributing to Mercury's dynamic exosphere and magnetosphere.