Comprehensive comparison of two global multi-species MHD models of Mars

Understanding the interaction between Mars and the solar wind is crucial for comprehending the atmospheric evolution and climate change on Mars. To gain a comprehensive understanding of the Martian plasma environment, global numerical simulations are essential in addition to spacecraft observations. However, there are still discrepancies among different simulation models. This study investigates how these discrepancies stem from the considered physical processes and numerical implementations. We compare two global multispecies MHD models: the “Sun model” based on the BATS-R-US code and the “Sakata model” based on a newly developed multifluid model MAESTRO. By employing the same typical upstream conditions and the same neutral atmosphere for current Mars, along with similar numerical implementations such as inner boundary conditions, we obtain simulation results that exhibit unprecedented agreement between the two models. The dayside results are nearly identical, especially along the sub..., , , # Comprehensive comparison of two global multi-species MHD models of Mars

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.80gb5mkz1](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.80gb5mkz1)

This dataset contains magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulation results from seven runs, of which four runs are from the Sun model and three runs are from the Sakata model. 

## Description of the data and file structure

The data are stored as ASCII files. Each line contains the variables corresponding to one grid point in the simulation domain.

### Data Variables

Variable names and units:

* x (R) = location in the MSO coordinate (R: Mars radius (=3396 km))
* y (R) = location in the MSO coordinate (R: Mars radius (=3396 km))
* rho (Mp/cc) = mass density (Mp: mass of Proton, cc: cubic centimeter)
* Hswp (/cc) = number densities of solar wind protons
* Hpp (/cc) = number densities of planetary protons
* Op (/cc) = number densities of atomic oxygen ions
* O2p (/cc) = number densities of molecular oxygen ions
* CO2p (/...