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...
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| Vydáno v: | Geophysical research letters Ročník 42; číslo 21; s. 9142 - 9148 |
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| Hlavní autoři: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
| Médium: | Journal Article |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Vydáno: |
Washington
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
16.11.2015
John Wiley & Sons, Inc American Geophysical Union |
| Témata: | |
| ISSN: | 0094-8276, 1944-8007 |
| On-line přístup: | Získat plný text |
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| Shrnutí: | 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 |
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| Bibliografie: | 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 |