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Plasma heating of Io's atmosphere
Author(s) -
Pospieszalska M. K.,
Johnson R. E.
Publication year - 1992
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 - 10.1029/92gl00397
Subject(s) - torus , atmosphere (unit) , plasma , physics , ion , corona (planetary geology) , monte carlo method , astrophysics , astrobiology , atmospheric sciences , computational physics , atomic physics , meteorology , nuclear physics , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , venus , statistics
A Monte‐Carlo, molecule‐tracking program was constructed to describe the structure of Io's atmosphere in the region penetrated by ions from the plasma torus. This region is shown to exhibit high temperatures, consistent with corona observations, independent of whether significant UV heating also occurs. The atmospheric structure is determined near the exobase, which is the region responsible for the supply of the Io torus.