Martian upper atmosphere response to solar EUV flux and soft X-ray flares

Planetary upper atmosphere energetics is mainly governed by absorption of solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation. Understanding the response of planetary upper atmosphere to the daily, long and short term variation in solar flux is very important to quantify energy budget of upper atmosphere. We report a comprehensive study of Mars dayglow observations made by the IUVS instrument aboard the MAVEN spacecraft, focusing on upper atmospheric response to solar EUV flux. Our analysis shows both short and long term effect of solar EUV flux on Martian thermospheric temperature. We find a significant drop (> 100 K) in thermospheric temperature between Ls = 218° and Ls = 140°, attributed primarily to the decrease in solar activity and increase in heliocentric distance. IUVS has observed response of Martian thermosphere to the 27-day solar flux variation due to solar rotation.We also report effect of two solar flare events (19 Oct. 2014 and 24 March 2015) on Martian dayglow observations. IUVS observed about ~25% increase in observed brightness of major ultraviolet dayglow emissions below 120 km, where most of the high energy photons (< 10 nm) deposit their energy. The results presented in this talk will help us better understand the role of EUV flux in total heat budget of Martian thermosphere.