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Microphysics of the Venusian and Martian mantles
Author(s) -
Quest K. B.,
Shapiro V. D.,
Szegö K.,
Dobe Z.
Publication year - 1997
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 - 10.1029/96gl03972
Subject(s) - venus , martian , mars exploration program , solar wind , physics , geophysics , planet , atmosphere of mars , atmosphere of venus , astrobiology , atmospheric sciences , atmospheric escape , exosphere , computational physics , ion , magnetic field , astronomy , quantum mechanics
The planetary ionospheres around the nonmagnetic planets Mars and Venus are directly exposed to the shocked solar wind. An interaction between the solar wind protons and the ionospheric oxygen takes place in a narrow turbulent region referred to as the plasma mantle. In this letter the microphysics of the dayside mantle is investigated numerically using a one‐dimensional hybrid code that retains the inertia of the electron species. It is shown that lower hybrid waves propagating perpendicular to the magnetic field are destabilized. Wave saturation is caused by electrostatic trapping of the proton species, and the saturated amplitudes are shown to be in reasonable agreement with Pioneer‐Venus observations. Oxygen pick‐up and acceleration is found to be dominated by wave effects, resulting in significant ion heating, consistent with Phobos observations.