Physics
Scientific paper
Feb 1998
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998jgr...103.3649j&link_type=abstract
Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 103, p. 3649
Physics
28
Mars Atmosphere, Ion Distribution, Oxygen Ions, Gas Dissociation, Recombination Reactions, Atmospheric Chemistry, Solar Activity
Scientific paper
Pickup-ion-induced sputtering, a potentially important nonthermal loss mechanism for the atmosphere of Mars, will also increase the content of the oxygen corona. This atmospheric sputtering process is shown to provide a small fraction of the corona in the present epoch, but is equivalent to (or dominates) the dissociative recombination contribution for the earlier epochs modeled by Zhang et al. (1993). The addition of sputtered atoms to the corona initiates feedback processes which can enhance the atmospheric sputtering rate in the present epoch, but limits it in the earliest epoch considered. It is also shown that the sputter contribution to the corona has the same dependence on altitude as the dissociative recombination component and it may be a significant contribution during contemporary solar maximum conditions. The possible detection of the sputter-produced component of atomic O in the corona during solar maximum conditions may be the most promising way of confirming the significance of this nonthermal loss mechanism at Mars.
Johnson Robert E.
Luhmann Janet G.
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