The spatial distribution of planetary ion fluxes near Mars observed by MAVEN

We present the results of an initial effort to statistically map the fluxes of planetary ions on a closed surface around Mars. Choosing a spherical shell ~1000 km above the planet, we map both outgoing and incoming ion fluxes (with energies >25 eV) over a 4 month period. The results show net esca...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:	Geophysical research letters Jg. 42; H. 21; S. 9142 - 9148
Hauptverfasser:	Brain, D. A., McFadden, J. P., Halekas, J. S., Connerney, J. E. P., Bougher, S. W., Curry, S., Dong, C. F., Dong, Y., Eparvier, F., Fang, X., Fortier, K., Hara, T., Harada, Y., Jakosky, B. M., Lillis, R. J., Livi, R., Luhmann, J. G., Ma, Y., Modolo, R., Seki, K.
Format:	Journal Article
Sprache:	Englisch
Veröffentlicht:	Washington Blackwell Publishing Ltd 16.11.2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc American Geophysical Union
Schlagworte:	Astrophysics Atmosphere atmospheric escape Convection Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Electric field Electric fields Evolution Fluxes Geographical distribution Geophysics Ion flux Ion fluxes Ions Mars Mars (planet) Mars atmosphere Mars missions Mars surface Northern Hemisphere Planetary evolution Planets Sciences of the Universe Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Solar wind solar wind interaction Spatial distribution Spherical shells Travel Wind power generation solar wind interaction atmospheric escape
ISSN:	0094-8276, 1944-8007
Online-Zugang:	Volltext
Tags:	Tag hinzufügen Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!

Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:	We present the results of an initial effort to statistically map the fluxes of planetary ions on a closed surface around Mars. Choosing a spherical shell ~1000 km above the planet, we map both outgoing and incoming ion fluxes (with energies >25 eV) over a 4 month period. The results show net escape of planetary ions behind Mars and strong fluxes of escaping ions from the northern hemisphere with respect to the solar wind convection electric field. Planetary ions also travel toward the planet, and return fluxes are particularly strong in the southern electric field hemisphere. We obtain a lower bound estimate for planetary ion escape of ~3 × 1024 s−1, accounting for the ~10% of ions that return toward the planet and assuming that the ~70% of the surface covered so far is representative of the regions not yet visited by Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN). Key Points MAVEN ion measurements are mapped to a spherical surface around Mars Planetary ion fluxes are organized in four spatial regions on the shell Heavy ion escape rates exceed 2 × 1024 s−1 for energies >25 eV
Bibliographie:	istex:F09352F0342753571B72CFBC86B4F371C38948F9 ArticleID:GRL53536 NASA ark:/67375/WNG-DS1JFSSB-2 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 content type line 23
ISSN:	0094-8276 1944-8007
DOI:	10.1002/2015GL065293