Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 1980
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1980georl...7.1045k&link_type=abstract
Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 7, Dec. 1980, p. 1045-1048. Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technologie
Physics
13
Ion Motion, Ion Temperature, Ionospheric Propagation, Planetary Ionospheres, Venus Atmosphere, Adiabatic Conditions, Atmospheric Circulation, Night Sky, Solar Position, Terminator Lines, Vertical Distribution
Scientific paper
Consideration is given to the energetics of the ion gas flowing across the terminator into the Venus nightside ionosphere. Expressions are derived for the transport time of the ion gas (through 1 radian in solar zenith angle), the heat transfer time from the hot electron gas to the ions of an amount equal to the ion thermal energy), and the time required for vertical heat conduction to remove the internal energy of the ion column above a reference altitude, and it is shown that the time constant for transport is an order of magnitude smaller than the electron heat transfer time and comparable to the conduction time, and thus the ion gas is not a vertical conductive steady state. The conversion of bulk flow ion kinetic energy into heat is suggested as the mechanism responsible for the maintenance of the nightside ion temperatures at their observed values. It is thus concluded that the flow of the ion gas is quasi-adiabatic, and that steady-state, vertical, one dimensional energy balance models must be used with caution in the Venus ionosphere.
Knudsen William C.
Miller Kenneth L.
Spenner Karl
Whitten Robert C.
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