Model insights into energetic photoelectrons measured at Mars by MAVEN
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Issue Date
2016-02-03Author
Sakai, Shotaro
Rahmati, Ali
Mitchell, David L.
Cravens, Thomas Edward
Bougher, Stephen W.
Mazelle, Christian
Peterson, W. K.
Eparvier, Francis
Fontenla, Juan M.
Jakosky, Bruce M.
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Rights
©2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
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Show full item recordAbstract
Photoelectrons are important for heating, ionization, and airglow production in planetary atmospheres. Measured electron fluxes provide insight into the sources and sinks of energy in the Martian upper atmosphere. The Solar Wind Electron Analyzer instrument on board the MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft measured photoelectrons including Auger electrons with 500 eV energies. A two-stream electron transport code was used to interpret the observations, including Auger electrons associated with K shell ionization of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. It explains the processes that control the photoelectron spectrum, such as the solar irradiance at different wavelengths, external electron fluxes from the Martian magnetosheath or tail, and the structure of the upper atmosphere (e.g., the thermal electron density). Our understanding of the complex processes related to the conversion of solar irradiances to thermal energy in the Martian ionosphere will be advanced by model comparisons with measurements of suprathermal electrons by MAVEN.
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Citation
Sakai, S., Rahmati, A., Mitchell, D. L., Cravens, T. E., Bougher, S. W., Mazelle, C., … Jakosky, B. M. (2015). Model insights into energetic photoelectrons measured at Mars by MAVEN. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(21), 8894–8900. doi:10.1002/2015gl065169
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