Physics
Scientific paper
Jan 1977
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1977jgr....82....1c&link_type=abstract
Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 82, Jan. 1, 1977, p. 1-9. NASA-NSF-supported research.
Physics
13
Charge Exchange, Coronas, Hydrogen Atoms, Ion Atom Interactions, Planetary Atmospheres, Atmospheric Composition, Atmospheric Temperature, Atomic Collisions, Boltzmann Transport Equation, Collisionless Plasmas, Energy Distribution, Escape Velocity, Exosphere, Heat Flux, Jeans Theory, Venus Atmosphere
Scientific paper
The theory for a spherical collisionless planetary corona is extended to include charge-exchange collisions between H(+) and H, which are assumed to constitute intermingled gases with different kinetic temperatures. The treatment is based on the conventional concept of a critical level (or exobase) above which the only collisions considered in the Boltzmann equation are those that resonantly exchange charge. Although the geometry treated is an oversimplification for a real planet, numerical examples are given for an idealized earth and Venus. For earth, an ion temperature of 4 times the neutral temperature, an ion density at the exobase of 14,000 per cu cm, and a plasmapause at 1.5 earth radii will raise the escape flux of H by a factor of 6. The total H above the exobase is changed by less than 1%. For Venus, conditions are examined that would account for the peculiar H distribution observed from Mariner 5. The plasma conditions required are not obviously outrageous by terrestrial standards, but the Mariner 5 ionosphere measurements did not show a high plasmapause at, say, 1.25 or 1.5 planetary radii, a fact that might argue against a charge-exchange model.
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