Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2007-06-27
Astrophys.J.707:1506-1523,2009
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
23 pages, 2 figures, submitted to ApJ. Other papers in series found at http://www.astro.columbia.edu/~arlin/TLP/
Scientific paper
10.1088/0004-637X/707/2/1506
We consider the implications from Paper I on how gas leaking through the lunar surface might interact with the regolith, and in what respects this might affect or cause the appearance of optical Transient Lunar Phenomena (TLPs). We consider briefly a range of phenomena, but concentrate at the extremes of high and low gas flow rate, which might represent the more likely behaviors. Extremely fast i.e., explosive, expulsion of gas from the surface is investigated by examining the minimal amount of gas needed to displace a plug of regolith above a site of gaseous overpressure at the regolith's base. The area and timescale of this disturbance, it is consistent with observed TLPs. Furthermore there are several ways in which such an explosion might be expected to change the lunar surface appearance in a way consistent with many TLPs, including production of obscuration, brightening and color changes. At the slow end of the volatile flow range, gas seeping from the interior is retained below the surface for extensive times due to the low diffusivity of regolith material. A special circumstance arises if the volatile flow contains water vapor, because water is uniquely capable of freezing as it passes from the base to the surface of the regolith. For a large TLP site, it is plausible to think of areas on the square-km scale accumulating significant bodies of water ice. Furthermore, as the system evolves over geological time, the ice accumulation zone will evolve downwards into the regolith. Since many reactions possible between the volatiles and regolith, depending on the additional gases besides water, can act to decrease diffusivity in the regolith, it is plausible that the volatiles produce a barrier between the seepage source and vacuum, forcing the ice zone to expand to larger areas.
Crotts Arlin P. S.
Hummels Cameron
No associations
LandOfFree
Lunar Outgassing, Transient Phenomena and The Return to The Moon, II: Predictions for Interactions between Outgassing and Regolith 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 Lunar Outgassing, Transient Phenomena and The Return to The Moon, II: Predictions for Interactions between Outgassing and Regolith, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Lunar Outgassing, Transient Phenomena and The Return to The Moon, II: Predictions for Interactions between Outgassing and Regolith will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-255423