Electron cooling rates in the atmospheres of Mars and Venus

Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Scientific paper

Vibrational excitation of molecules by electron impact, followed by radiative decay, is a cooling mechanism in planetary atmospheres. As carbon dioxide is the dominant constituent below 200 and 140 km in the atmospheres of Mars and Venus respectively, the electron cooling rates for CO2 are required in modeling the atmospheres of these planets. Such cooling rates were determined many years ago, but new measurements and calculations of the electron impact cross sections have since become available. There have also been new measurements of the atmospheric parameters, such as of the electron density on Mars, that are required in the calculations. Therefore we have assembled a new data base of electron impact cross sections for CO2, based on the more recent measurements and calculations, and used it to calculate electron cooling rates for Mars and Venus. One result is that we predict a larger cooling rate for the altitude range 100--150 km in the Martian atmosphere. This may explain why temperatures observed in this region are less than predicted.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Electron cooling rates in the atmospheres of Mars and Venus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Electron cooling rates in the atmospheres of Mars and Venus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Electron cooling rates in the atmospheres of Mars and Venus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-826929

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.