Neutral atom imaging of solar wind interaction with the Earth and Venus

Details Neutral atom imaging of solar wind interaction with the Earth and Venus Neutral atom imaging of solar wind interaction with the Earth and Venus

Jan 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004jgra..10901206f&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 109, Issue A1, CiteID A01206

Physics

9

Magnetospheric Physics: Solar Wind Interactions With Unmagnetized Bodies, Magnetospheric Physics: Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, Interplanetary Physics: Neutral Particles, Magnetospheric Physics: Planetary Magnetospheres (5443, 5737, 6030), Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetosheath

Scientific paper

Observations from the Low-Energy Neutral Atom (LENA) imager on the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) mission have emerged as a promising new tool for studying the solar wind interaction with the terrestrial magnetosphere. Strong LENA emissions are seen from the magnetosheath during magnetic storms, especially during high solar wind dynamic pressure when the magnetopause is strongly compressed and the magnetosheath penetrates deeply into the exosphere. Venus, unlike the Earth, has no intrinsic magnetic field, so the solar wind penetrates deeply and interacts directly with its upper atmosphere. Energy transfer processes enhance atomic escape and thus play a potentially important role in the evolution of the atmosphere. We have performed simulations of the solar wind interaction with both Earth and Venus and compared the results to LENA observations at the Earth. Low-energy neutral atom emissions from Venus are calculated based on the global MHD model of Tanaka. We found the simulated energetic neutral atom (ENA) emissions from Venus magnetosheath are comparable or greater than for the Earth. The Venus ionopause is clearly seen in the modeled oxygen ENA images. This simulation work demonstrates the feasibility of remotely sensing the Venusian solar wind interaction and resultant atmospheric escape using fast neutral atom imaging.

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