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Study of the Martian cold oxygen corona from the O I 130.4 nm by IUVS/MAVEN
Author(s) -
Chaufray J. Y.,
Deighan J.,
Chaffin M. S.,
Schneider N. M.,
McClintock W. E.,
Stewart A. I. F.,
Jain S. K.,
Crismani M.,
Stiepen A.,
Holsclaw G. M.,
Clarke J. T.,
Montmessin F.,
Eparvier F. G.,
Thiemann E. M. B.,
Chamberlin P. C.,
Jakosky B. M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2015gl065341
Subject(s) - mars exploration program , martian , atmosphere of mars , atmospheric escape , atmosphere (unit) , thermosphere , atmospheric sciences , line (geometry) , oxygen , physics , environmental science , ultraviolet , spectrograph , planet , astrobiology , spectral line , astrophysics , ionosphere , astronomy , meteorology , optics , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics
First observations of the O I 130.4 nm resonant line performed by the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) aboard the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission (MAVEN) are presented in this paper. This emission line is observed during the different orbit phases of MAVEN. The atomic oxygen density and the temperature at 200 km are retrieved from an automatic pipeline using a radiative transfer model for resonant scattering lines for a selection of coronal profiles. These selected profiles are representative of the coronal scans done during the first months of the mission (from November 2014 to January 2015). The derived oxygen density and the temperature near the exobase are in the predicted range by the current thermospheric models of Mars for moderate solar activity, and some diurnal variations are observed. However, the absolute calibration of the instrument significantly limits the accuracy of density and temperature results.