Solar wind sputtering effects in the Martian atmosphere

Details Solar wind sputtering effects in the Martian atmosphere Solar wind sputtering effects in the Martian atmosphere

Jan 1979

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1979mars.conf...87w&link_type=abstract

Mars, Abstracts from the Second International Colloquium held 15-18 January, 1979 at the California Institute of Technology, Pas

Computer Science

1

Atmospheric Models, Mars Atmosphere, Solar Wind, Sputtering, Carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Chemical Reactions, Monte Carlo Method, Oxygen, Photochemical Reactions, Upper Atmosphere

Scientific paper

A Monte Carlo simulation of the sputtering of the upper atmosphere of Mars by the solar wind was performed. The calculated sputtering yields imply loss rates (molecules/cm square - sec escaping the planet) for carbon dioxide, carbon, and oxygen of R(CO2) = 2.6 X 1000000/cm square - sec, R(C) = 6.6 X 1000000/cm square - sec, and R(O) = 7.7 X 1000000/cm - sec. The total mass loss by sputtering is only about 10% of that due to chemical and photo-chemical processes, but sputtering provides a major exospheric sink for carbon. The erosion process described here preferentially removes the lighter components of the atmosphere. Calculations based on a Monte Carlo simulation suggest that for a model atmosphere, 97% of the N2 and 33% of the CO2 originally present may have been sputtered away over 4.5 X 10 to the 9th power y. In the same length of time the (15)N/(14)N isotopic ratio for the bulk atmosphere would have increased by a factor 1.7.

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