Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p13d..03c&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P13D-03
Physics
[2780] Magnetospheric Physics / Solar Wind Interactions With Unmagnetized Bodies, [5421] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Interactions With Particles And Fields, [6225] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mars, [6281] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Titan
Scientific paper
External plasma (i.e., the solar wind for Venus, Mars, or comets, and magnetospheric plasma for Titan) directly interacts with the upper atmospheres and ionospheres of planets or bodies that lack a strong intrinsic magnetic field. A variety of spacecraft measurements combined with modeling have taught us much about the plasma environments of Venus, Mars, and Titan and have provided insights into the role of the plasma in atmospheric escape. Comets and Venus represent extreme cases of how external plasma flow interacts with solar system bodies. Cometary neutrals are ionized by solar EUV radiation and the newly created ions are "picked-up" by the solar wind and mass-load the flow over a very extensive region. The solar wind interaction with the ionosphere of Venus takes place relatively near the planet but ion pick-up is still associated with some atmospheric loss. The solar wind interactions with Venus and Mars are similar in many respects. Both mass-loading and localized magnetic fields associated with crustal anomalies affect the plasma flow at Mars. Fast atoms produced by the dissociative recombination of ionospheric O2+ above the exobase are able escape from Mars. Titan interacts with the flowing plasma in Saturn’s outer magnetosphere amd the incident flow is usually sub-magnetosonic, yet super-Alfvénic. The upper atmosphere of Titan is also subject to energy deposition associated with the precipitation of energetic charged particles from Saturn’s magnetosphere. Atmospheric loss at Titan results both from ion pick-up and from tailward flow, although these processes are not yet fully understood.
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