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    Hot oxygen escape from Mars: Simple scaling with solar EUV irradiance

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    Cravens_2017.pdf (580.0Kb)
    Issue Date
    2016-12-09
    Author
    Cravens, Thomas Edward
    Rahmati, Ali
    Fox, Jane L.
    Lillis, Robert J.
    Bougher, Stephen W.
    Luhmann, J.
    Sakai, Shotaro
    Deighan, Justin
    Lee, Yuni
    Combi, Michael R.
    Jakosky, Bruce M.
    Publisher
    American Geophysical Union
    Type
    Article
    Article Version
    Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
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    Abstract
    The evolution of the atmosphere of Mars and the loss of volatiles over the lifetime of the solar system is a key topic in planetary science. An important loss process for atomic species, such as oxygen, is ionospheric photochemical escape. Dissociative recombination of O2+ ions (the major ion species) produces fast oxygen atoms, some of which can escape from the planet. Many theoretical hot O models have been constructed over the years, although a number of uncertainties are present in these models, particularly concerning the elastic cross sections of O atoms with CO2. Recently, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission has been rapidly improving our understanding of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere of Mars and its interaction with the external environment (e.g., solar wind), allowing a new assessment of this important loss process. The purpose of the current paper is to take a simple analytical approach to the oxygen escape problem in order to (1) study the role that variations in solar radiation or solar wind fluxes could have on escape in a transparent fashion and (2) isolate the effects of uncertainties in oxygen cross sections on the derived oxygen escape rates. In agreement with several more elaborate numerical models, we find that the escape flux is directly proportional to the incident solar extreme ultraviolet irradiance and is inversely proportional to the backscatter elastic cross section. The amount of O lost due to ion transport in the topside ionosphere is found to be about 5–10% of the total.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1808/27075
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JA023461
    Collections
    • Physics & Astronomy Scholarly Works [1711]
    Citation
    Cravens, T. E., et al. (2017), Hot oxygen escape from Mars: Simple scaling with solar EUV irradiance, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 122, 1102–1116, doi:10.1002/2016JA023461.

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    Contact KU ScholarWorks
    785-864-8983
    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    Image Credits
     

     

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