Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Oct 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.3205s&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #32.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1012
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Io possesses a highly non-uniform collisional atmosphere that is created by sublimation of surface SO2 frost and volcanoes and is both intensely heated and excoriated by its high-velocity ( 60 km/s) interactions with the Io plasma torus. The plasma motion parallel to the more-or-less north-south aligned magnetic field lines intersects an almost radial and hence thinner neutral column density near the pole but an almost tangential and much thicker neutral column density near the equator. The plasma motion perpendicular to the magnetic field lines always impinges on the trailing satellite hemisphere while the Io plasma wake is above the leading hemisphere. The hemisphere of the thicker dayside sublimation atmosphere, however, moves about Io as the satellite moves in its orbit about Jupiter. Multiple volcanoes scattered throughout Io's surface represent substantial additional sources of atmosphere. Io's resulting atmosphere is therefore inherently three-dimensional in nature. To investigate the changing nature of Io's atmospheric structure, composition, and dynamics with orbital phase, we have developed a three-dimensional multi-species hydrodynamic model with sublimation and volcanic sources. The model includes the relevant photo, gas-phase, and electron-impact chemistry and the changing location of plasma-ion heating in the day and night atmosphere as Io moves about Jupiter. The interaction of the plasma torus with the atmosphere involves various processes, and the current model includes electron impact ionization/dissociation of neutrals and ion-neutral elastic collisions. Select model calculations for the composition and structure of the atmosphere for different orbital phases of Io will be compared. This research has been supported by the NASA Planetary Atmospheres Program.
Marconi Max L.
Smyth William H.
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