Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm33b1893s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM33B-1893
Physics
[2431] Ionosphere / Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions, [2736] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions, [5435] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Ionospheres
Scientific paper
The Earth has an active magnetic dynamo, and it usually argued that the magnetic field inhibits ionospheric outflows, and hence atmospheric loss. It is somewhat surprising then to note that the average outflows rates for oxygen ions is comparable at the Earth, Venus, and Mars, of the order 1024 to 1026 ions/second. At Venus and Mars the outflowing oxygen ions become entrained within the solar wind, and most of the ions escape, although some fraction of the ions are transported back into the ionosphere through the combined action of the solar wind motional electric field and magnetic field. At the Earth, while the magnetic field prevents the solar wind from directly interacting with the ionosphere, the field increases the size of the planetary obstacle within the solar wind, and further provides a means for energy and momentum transfer to the magnetosphere through reconnection. Because there is no direct interaction between the ionosphere and solar wind, for the Earth it is much less clear how much of the outflowing plasma is ultimately lost. Outflowing ions in the nightside auroral zone are initially trapped within the plasma sheet, and ring current. Depending on the ion drift paths, some of these ions may drift to the magnetopause and then be lost from the magnetosphere. Cusp-region outflows are initially on open field lines, but if the ions have too low an energy they can be convected across lobe field lines into the nightside plasmasheet, rather than escape down tail. In this presentation we will compare and contrast the processes responsible for outflows at the terrestrial planets. We will also review the various observations, with emphasis on the assumptions that are required to derive global outflow rates from local observations.
Barabash Sergey V.
Foster Christopher J.
Luhmann Janet G.
Moore Thomas Earle
Nilsson Hampus
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