On the vertical thermal structure of Io's atmosphere

Details On the vertical thermal structure of Io's atmosphere On the vertical thermal structure of Io's atmosphere

Sep 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994icar..111...18s&link_type=abstract

Icarus (ISSN 0019-1035), vol. 111, no. 1, p. 18-30

Mathematics

40

Absorption Spectra, Atmospheric Models, Atmospheric Temperature, Io, Mathematical Models, Radiative Heat Transfer, Satellite Atmospheres, Sulfur Dioxides, Asymptotic Properties, Electric Fields, Solar Heating, Temperature Distribution, Ultraviolet Radiation, Vertical Distribution

Scientific paper

A radiative-thermal conduction model for the vertical thermal structure of Io's atmosphere is developed with solar heating by SO2 absorption in UV and near-IR bands and non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) cooling by SO2 nu1, nu2, nu3, vibrational bands and rotational lines. The model predicts the existence of a mesopause in Io's atmosphere when the surface pressure exceeds approximately 10 nbar. The radiative time constant for establishing a mesosphere/mesopause on Io is only approximately 20 min, whereas the thermospheric radiative time constant is about 1 hr. These time constants are significantly shorter than the diurnal time scale and competitive with dynamic time scales. In the thermosphere when solar UV heating dominates, the asymptotic thermospheric temperature is approximately 270 K, only 140 K greater than the surface temperature because at high altitudes non-LTE cooling by SO2 rotation lines exceeds cooling in the nu2 virbrational band. Solar-heating-only modles are incapable of generating warm enough atmospheres to satisfy the observational inferences from UV and especially millimeter-wave meausrements. Joule heating driven by the penetration of Jupiter's corotational electric field into Io's conducting ionosphere is demonstrated to be the dominant heating mechanism in the subnanobar regions of Io's atmosphere with tempertures ranging from 150 to 1000 K as a function of decreasing pressure from 1 to 0.1 nbar, The asymoptotic thermospheric temperature can attain a value as high as 1800 K.

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