Physics
Scientific paper
Oct 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001jgr...10621305f&link_type=abstract
Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 106, Issue A10, p. 21305-21336
Physics
52
Ionosphere: Planetary Ionospheres, Planetology: Solid Surface Planets: Ionospheres
Scientific paper
We present models of the low and high solar activity thermospheres and ionospheres of Venus for a background atmosphere based largely on the VTS3 model of Hedin et al. [1983]. Our background model consists of 12 neutral species, and we compute the density profiles of 13 ions and 7 minor neutrals. We find that the peak production rates of some ions, such as CO2+ and N2+, vary approximately as the solar flux and that some, whose parent neutrals are photochemically produced, such as O+, N+, and C+, show variations that are amplified over that of the solar flux. The solar cycle variation of the O2+ density at its peak is about a factor of 1.6, in good agreement with the radio occultation measurements and previous models. The peak density of N2+ varies by a factor of ~2, but that of CO+ varies by a larger factor because the mixing ratio of CO is also correlated with solar activity. The atomic ions O+, N+, and C+, which peak at high altitudes, exhibit larger density enhancements at high solar activity of factors of 5-18. Thus there is a solar cycle variation in the overall composition of the ionosphere, with a relatively larger proportion of atomic ions at high solar activity. In both measurements and models the solar activity variation of the electron density profile is altitude-dependent, with variations of only ~60% near the peak but up to an order of magnitude near 300 km. The high solar activity electron density profile exhibits an F2 ``shoulder,'' which is rarely seen in the radio occultation data and may indicate that the VTS3 atomic O mixing ratios are too large at high solar activity. We also discuss the solar activity variations of N, NO, C, O(1D), and O(1S).
Fox Lewis J.
Sung K. Y.
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