Welcome!

 

Welcome to the Surface and Environment Interaction Studies (SEIS) Group !

The aim of SEIS is to maximize our understanding of the Hermean surface science through interdisciplinary collaborations in support to the BepiColombo mission. You work or want to work on Mercury's surface/environment? Join us!

About SEIS

SEIS is a subgroup of the BepiColombo Young Scientist Study Group (BCYSSG) officially launched during the 20th BepiColombo Science Working Team (SWT) meeting on April 24, 2020. The aim of SEIS is to bring together the potential of an interdisciplinary approach through collaborations among motivated scientists of various research backgrounds to maximize our understanding of Hermean surface science in support of the BepiColombo mission. Thus, the studies of this group examine the effects of compositional and physical properties of the Hermean surface due to a product of an interplay of solar wind interaction, larger impactors and cratering mechanisms, and interactions with internal magnetic fields. Interactions between the Hermean surface and its environment makes these actors also change individually.

 

 

SEIS encapsulates broad scientific interests, which include but are not limited to: 

  • Mercury’s internal magnetic field, magnetosphere-surface-exosphere interaction including space weathering, particle dynamics and precipitation;
  • Mercury’s surface properties: temperature, mineralogy, processes, physical properties (roughness, grain size, porosity);
  • Mercury’s volatiles: polar deposits, hollows; 
  • Mercury’s geology: tectonics, volcanism, impact cratering, stratigraphy, geological mapping, and 3D surface reconstruction;

 

 

Combined together SEIS aims to answer questions about the planet’s formation and evolution using ground-based, remote sensing, in situ observations, modeling, and field analogue studies. The group will collectively work towards the selection of targets with high-priority science objectives to aid BepiColombo mission planning. The group has currently outlined about ten different projects of major scientific interest for the study of surface-environment interactions.

 

 

Projects

 

Subgroup chairs

​​​​​​Aurélie Van den Neucker & Autumn Shackelford & Nimisha Verma