Modeling Of Mercury's Exosphere With External And Internal Forcing

Details Modeling Of Mercury's Exosphere With External And Internal Forcing Modeling Of Mercury's Exosphere With External And Internal Forcing

Oct 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.0306k&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #3.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.412

Mathematics

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Scientific paper

Mercury's exosphere, most often seen in its sodium component, reveals an interesting interplay between external forcing and internal or surface processes. Several source processes have been proposed for the sodium and potassium exospheres of Mercury: photon-stimulated desorption, impact vaporization, ion-sputtering and thermal vaporization. The proposed loss processes are photoionization, with subsequent entrainment into the solar wind, and sticking or cold-trapping at the surface. A Monte Carlo code has been used to examine the response of the sodium exosphere of Mercury to internal and external forcing as it moves about the sun from perihelion to aphelion and returning to perihelion. One of the most controversial physical processes, the surface interaction, has been explored in the modeling for the first time. Both the sticking coefficient and the fraction of energy exchanged with the surface have been varied to determine their influence on the resulting exosphere. Radiation pressure is also calculated, along with feedback mechanisms. The ion flux capable of sputtering is obtained from our magnetosphere code (Mercury-adapted TH93 model) as a function of solar wind pressure and IMF parameters. The probability of occurrence of each magnetospheric configuration is computed from Helios particle and field data. The resulting atmosphere, surface concentration of volatiles, and maps of escaping atoms and the tail are shown. The modeled results are compared with data to constrain the sources and surface interaction. Expected atmospheres for Na, K, Ca and O will also be shown for a limited range of conditions. This research was funded by the NASA Planetary Atmospheres Program.

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