Abstract Measurements of concentrations of neutral and ion species in the upper atmosphere of Mars by the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) on board the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile ...EvolutioN mission have served as model input and/or for comparison with model output in numerous earlier studies of the Martian dayside ionosphere. While many models reproduce the altitudinal density profiles of key ion species within a factor of a few, it has proven challenging to achieve a level of agreement within tens of percent for multiple ion species over a wide range of altitudes. We explore means to overcome this issue while keeping with a reduced chemical model and utilizing the assumptions of photochemical equilibrium and that the NGIMS data are devoid of any measurement errors. We entertain, for instance, the idea that the rate coefficient for the charge-transfer reaction between CO 2 + and O may vary with altitude as a result of a pressure-controlled internal energy distribution of the CO 2 + population.
Because ion-neutral reaction cross sections are energy dependent, the distance from a cometary nucleus within which ions remain collisionally coupled to the neutrals is dictated not only by the ...comet's activity level but also by the electromagnetic fields in the coma. Here we present a 1D model simulating the outward radial motion of water group ions with radial acceleration by an ambipolar electric field interrupted primarily by charge transfer processes with H2O. We also discuss the impact of plasma waves. For a given electric field profile, the model calculates key parameters, including the total ion density, nI, the H3O+/H2O+ number density and flux ratios, Rdens and Rflux, and the mean ion drift speed, , as a function of cometocentric distance. We focus primarily on a coma roughly resembling that of the ESA Rosetta mission target comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko near its perihelion in 2015 August. In the presence of a weak ambipolar electric field in the radial direction the model results suggest that the neutral coma is not sufficiently dense to keep the mean ion flow speed close to that of the neutrals by the spacecraft location (∼200 km from the nucleus). In addition, for electric field profiles giving nI and within limits constrained by measurements, the Rdens values are significantly higher than values typically observed. However, when including the ion motion in large-amplitude plasma waves in the model, results more compatible with observations are obtained. We suggest that the variable and often low H3O+/H2O+ number density ratios observed may reflect nonradial ion trajectories strongly influenced by electromagnetic forces and/or plasma instabilities, with energization of the ion population by plasma waves.
From a reduced chemical model of the Martian dayside ionosphere we derive an expression that can be used to estimate the electron temperature as a function of the ambient number densities of CO2, O, ..., , O+, and NO+ and the total ion number density. The model is tested in the sunlit ionosphere with Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN/Neutral Gas Ion Mass Spectrometer (MAVEN/NGIMS) data from the Deep Dip campaigns DD2 (2015 April) and DD8 (2017 October). Around an altitude of ∼130-140 km the calculated electron temperatures along the DD2 orbits are in many cases compatible with the neutral temperatures derived from the CO2 density profiles and downward integration of the hydrostatic balance equation, indicating efficient cooling of the electron population. For altitudes below 170 km the electron temperature (constructed from median density profiles) are higher for DD8 than for DD2 which we link to atmospheric solar cycle modulation. Median electron temperatures derived for DD2 and DD8 are roughly similar when inspecting similar CO2 number densities and a simple power law is proposed to relate the electron temperature to the CO2 number density. Calculated electron temperatures of approximately 1000 K around an altitude of 180-200 km appear not to conflict with published data from MAVEN Langmuir Probe Wave (LPW) measurements. At greater depths the LPW-derived electron temperatures have been reported as biased high and so a detailed comparison with results from the present work is merely proposed as a dedicated follow-up study.
A major point of interest in cometary plasma physics has been the diamagnetic cavity, an unmagnetized region in the innermost part of the coma. Here we combine Langmuir and Mutual Impedance Probe ...measurements to investigate ion velocities and electron temperatures in the diamagnetic cavity of comet 67P, probed by the Rosetta spacecraft. We find ion velocities generally in the range 2–4 km/s, significantly above the expected neutral velocity
≲1 km/s, showing that the ions are (partially) decoupled from the neutrals, indicating that ion‐neutral drag was not responsible for balancing the outside magnetic pressure. Observations of clear wake effects on one of the Langmuir probes showed that the ion flow was close to radial and supersonic, at least with respect to the perpendicular temperature, inside the cavity and possibly in the surrounding region as well. We observed spacecraft potentials
≲−5 V throughout the cavity, showing that a population of warm (∼5 eV) electrons was present throughout the parts of the cavity reached by Rosetta. Also, a population of cold (
≲0.1eV) electrons was consistently observed throughout the cavity, but less consistently in the surrounding region, suggesting that while Rosetta never entered a region of collisionally coupled electrons, such a region was possibly not far away during the cavity crossings.
Key Points
The ion velocity exceeded the neutral velocity, showing that the ions were not strongly collisionally coupled to the neutral gas
A population of warm electrons was present throughout the parts of the cavity reached by Rosetta, driving the spacecraft potential negative
A population of cold electrons was consistently observed inside the cavity and intermittently also in the surrounding region
Abstract
The ESA’s comet chaser Rosetta has monitored the evolution of the ionized atmosphere of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P/CG) and its interaction with the solar wind, during more than ...2 yr. Around perihelion, while the cometary outgassing rate was highest, Rosetta crossed hundreds of unmagnetized regions, but did not seem to have crossed a large-scale diamagnetic cavity as anticipated. Using in situ Rosetta observations, we characterize the structure of the unmagnetized plasma found around comet 67P/CG. Plasma density measurements from RPC-MIP are analysed in the unmagnetized regions identified with RPC-MAG. The plasma observations are discussed in the context of the cometary escaping neutral atmosphere, observed by ROSINA/COPS. The plasma density in the different diamagnetic regions crossed by Rosetta ranges from ∼100 to ∼1500 cm−3. They exhibit a remarkably systematic behaviour that essentially depends on the comet activity and the cometary ionosphere expansion. An effective total ionization frequency is obtained from in situ observations during the high outgassing activity phase of comet 67P/CG. Although several diamagnetic regions have been crossed over a large range of distances to the comet nucleus (from 50 to 400 km) and to the Sun (1.25–2.4 au), in situ observations give strong evidence for a single diamagnetic region, located close to the electron exobase. Moreover, the observations are consistent with an unstable contact surface that can locally extend up to about 10 times the electron exobase.
ABSTRACT
Moment analysis of ion spectrograms measured by the Ion Composition Analyser (ICA) in the coma of comet 67P typically produces an ion number density estimate markedly lower than the number ...density of free electrons as measured by the Mutual Impedance Probe and the dual Langmuir Probe. While there are good reasons to distrust the ion density moment estimate in these circumstances, the issue cannot yet be considered fully understood and it is of interest to see whether any natural non-instrumental cause is possible. An obvious such cause would be whether a significant fraction of the positive charge density resides in positively charged dust grains that are not measured by the ICA. Here, we show that this scenario is highly unlikely, even near perihelion where photoemission is the strongest. In our semi-analytical grain charging model, we balance the current contributions to grains of photoelectron emission and electron attachment so as to find the expected charge state for a grain of a given radius. The charge state is affected by the ambient electron number density, the electron temperature, and the heliocentric distance. While at times the bulk of the dust population around comet 67P could be charged positive, dust charging, including photoelectron emission, should have a negligible influence on the overall ionization balance in the cometary coma simply because the dust particles are not ubiquitous enough.
Context. The electron temperature of the plasma is one important aspect of the environment. Electrons created by photoionization or impact ionization of atmospheric gas have energies ~10 eV. In an ...active comet coma, the gas density is high enough for rapid cooling of the electron gas to the neutral gas temperature (a few hundred kelvin). How cooling evolves in less active comets has not been studied before. Aims. We aim to investigate how electron cooling varied as comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko changed its activity by three orders of magnitude during the Rosetta mission. Methods. We used in situ data from the Rosetta plasma and neutral gas sensors. By combining Langmuir probe bias voltage sweeps and mutual impedance probe measurements, we determined at which time cold electrons formed at least 25% of the total electron density. We compared the results to what is expected from simple models of electron cooling, using the observed neutral gas density as input. Results. We demonstrate that the slope of the Langmuir probe sweep can be used as a proxy for the presence of cold electrons. We show statistics of cold electron observations over the two-year mission period. We find cold electrons at lower activity than expected by a simple model based on free radial expansion and continuous loss of electron energy. Cold electrons are seen mainly when the gas density indicates that an exobase may have formed. Conclusions. Collisional cooling of electrons following a radial outward path is not sufficient to explain the observations. We suggest that the ambipolar electric field keeps electrons in the inner coma for a much longer time, giving them time to dissipate energy by collisions with the neutrals. We conclude that better models are required to describe the plasma environment of comets. They need to include at least two populations of electrons and the ambipolar field.
Saturn's Dusty Ionosphere Morooka, M. W.; Wahlund, J.‐E.; Hadid, L. Z. ...
Journal of geophysical research. Space physics,
March 2019, Volume:
124, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Measurements of electrons and ions in Saturn's ionosphere down to 1,500‐km altitudes as well as the ring crossing region above the ionosphere obtained by the Langmuir probe onboard the Cassini ...spacecraft are presented. Five nearly identical deep ionosphere flybys during the Grand Finale orbits and the Final plunge orbit revealed a rapid increase in the plasma densities and discrepancies between the electrons and ions densities (Ne and Ni) near the closest approach. The small Ne/Ni ratio indicates the presence of a dusty plasma, a plasma which charge carrier is dominated by negatively charged heavy particles. Comparison of the Langmuir probe obtained density with the light ion density obtained by the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer confirmed the presence of heavy ions. An unexpected positive floating potential of the probe was also observed when Ne/Ni ≪ 1. This suggests that Saturn's ionosphere near the density peak is in a dusty plasma state consisting of negatively and positively charged heavy cluster ions. The electron temperature (Te) characteristics in the ionosphere are also investigated and unexpectedly high electron temperature value, up to 5000 K, has been observed below 2,500‐km altitude in a region where electron‐neutral collisions should be prominent. A well‐defined relationship between Te and Ne/Ni ratio was found, implying that the electron heating at low altitudes is related to the dusty plasma state of the ionosphere.
Plain Language Summary
Cassini Langmuir probe measurements revealed ion densities in excess of the electron densities, indicative of a dusty plasma, in Saturn's ionosphere below 2,500‐km altitude. Comparison of the Langmuir probe measurements with those of the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer, sensitive to only lighter ions during this period, showed that heavy ions dominate in this region. Positive spacecraft potentials were also found, suggesting that Saturn's ionosphere contains dusty plasma of negatively and positively charged heavy ions.
Key Points
In situ measurements of Saturn's ionospheric plasma densities down to 1,500 km and the ring above the ionosphere is presented
Charge imbalance in the ions and electrons, evidence of the negatively charged heavy particles, has been observed below 2,500 km
Observations suggest that Saturn's ionosphere consists of a significant amount of negatively and positively charged heavy ions
Abstract
The plasma environment has been measured for the first time near the surface of a comet. This unique data set has been acquired at 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko during ESA/Rosetta spacecraft's ...final descent on 2016 September 30. The heliocentric distance was 3.8 au and the comet was weakly outgassing. Electron density was continuously measured with Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC)–Mutual Impedance Probe (MIP) and RPC–LAngmuir Probe (LAP) during the descent from a cometocentric distance of 20 km down to the surface. Data set from both instruments have been cross-calibrated for redundancy and accuracy. To analyse this data set, we have developed a model driven by Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis–COmetary Pressure Sensor total neutral density. The two ionization sources considered are solar extreme ultraviolet radiation and energetic electrons. The latter are estimated from the RPC–Ion and Electron Sensor (IES) and corrected for the spacecraft potential probed by RPC–LAP. We have compared the results of the model to the electron densities measured by RPC–MIP and RPC–LAP at the location of the spacecraft. We find good agreement between observed and modelled electron densities. The energetic electrons have access to the surface of the nucleus and contribute as the main ionization source. As predicted, the measurements exhibit a peak in the ionospheric density close to the surface. The location and magnitude of the peak are estimated analytically. The measured ionospheric densities cannot be explained with a constant outflow velocity model. The use of a neutral model with an expanding outflow is critical to explain the plasma observations.
Combining the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) measurements of atmospheric neutral and ion densities, electron temperature, and energetic electron intensity, we perform the first ...quantitative evaluation of local ionization balance in the nightside Martian upper atmosphere, a condition with the electron impact ionization (EI) of CO2 exactly balanced by the dissociative recombination (DR) of ambient ions. The data accumulated during two MAVEN Deep Dip (DD) campaigns are included: DD6 on the deep nightside with a periapsis solar zenith angle (SZA) of 165°, and DD3 close to the dawn terminator with a periapsis SZA of 110°. With the electron temperatures at low altitudes corrected for an instrumental effect pertaining to the MAVEN Langmuir Probe and Waves, a statistical agreement between the EI and DR rates is suggested by the data below 140 km during DD6 and below 180 km during DD3, implying that electron precipitation is responsible for the nightside Martian ionosphere under these circumstances and extra sources are not required. In contrast, a substantial enhancement in EI over DR is observed at higher altitudes during both campaigns, which we interpret as a signature of plasma escape down the tail.
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