Solar wind interaction with early Mars and atmospheric evolution

Details Solar wind interaction with early Mars and atmospheric evolution Solar wind interaction with early Mars and atmospheric evolution

Sep 1992

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992adspr..12..279k&link_type=abstract

(Recent results on Mars and Venus; Proceedings of Symposium 3 and the Topical Meetings of the Interdisciplinary Scientific Commi

Mathematics

Logic

Mars Atmosphere, Planetary Evolution, Planetary Magnetic Fields, Solar Planetary Interactions, Solar Wind, Dynamic Pressure, Hydrogen Ions, Oxygen Ions, Periodic Variations

Scientific paper

First results from Phobos 2 encounter give large escape rates of O(+) ions (about 2 x 10 exp 25 ions/s) from the Martian ionosphere, suggesting that direct solar wind interaction with the ionosphere can be an important source of the loss of atmosphere over geologic times. However, recent evidence from SNC meteorites and magnetostrophic balance principles show that early Mars had a surface equatorial field of about 0.05 gauss which has since decayed. This represents an increase by a factor of 1.6 x 10 exp 4 for the magnetic pressure (P(B)) in early Mars over the present. The corresponding solar wind dynamic pressure (P(SW)) turns out to be about twice the present value. Thus, P(B) in early Mars would far exceed P(SW), and the solar wind interaction would be magnetospheric (earth-like) rather than ionospheric (Venus-like). Nevertheless, ionospheric outflow could still be very significant from the point of view of atmospheric evolution. By analogy with earth, large outflows of ions through the polar regions could contribute significantly to the atmospheric loss. Indeed, some similarities with the earth's outflow have been noted by Lundin et al. (1989).

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