Pumping out the atmosphere of Mars through solar wind pressure pulses

Edberg, Niklas J. T.; Nilsson, Hans; Williams, A. O.; Lester, M.; Milan, S. E.; Cowley, S. W. H.; Fränz, M.; Barabash, S.; Futaana, Yoshifumi

doi:10.1029/2009gl041814

Cited by 99 publications

(128 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…While the ICME flux rope proper can induce a strong and sustained motional electric field leading to significant pick-up losses, sheaths have high dynamic pressure that allows direct interactions to occur much closer to the surface of the planet. Solar wind pressure pulses have indeed shown to enhance the atmospheric loss both from Mars (e.g., Edberg et al 2010) and from Venus (e.g., Edberg et al 2011). However, the effects from fluctuating (sheath) versus smooth (flux rope) electric fields for the atmospheric escape have not been studied yet.…”

Section: Icmes and Other Planetary Atmospheresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coronal mass ejections and their sheath regions in interplanetary space

Kilpua

Koskinen

Pulkkinen

2017

Living Rev Sol Phys

356

360

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Interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are large-scale heliospheric transients that originate from the Sun. When an ICME is sufficiently faster than the preceding solar wind, a shock wave develops ahead of the ICME. The turbulent region between the shock and the ICME is called the sheath region. ICMEs and their sheaths and shocks are all interesting structures from the fundamental plasma physics viewpoint. They are also key drivers of space weather disturbances in the heliosphere and planetary environments. ICME-driven shock waves can accelerate charged particles to high energies. Sheaths and ICMEs drive practically all intense geospace storms at the Earth, and they can also affect dramatically the planetary radiation environments and atmospheres. This review focuses on the current understanding of observational signatures and properties of ICMEs and the associated sheath regions based on five decades of studies. In addition, we discuss modelling of ICMEs and many fundamental outstanding questions on their origin, evolution and effects, largely due to the limitations of single spacecraft observations of these macro-scale structures. We also present current understanding of space weather consequences of these large-scale solar wind structures, including effects at the other Solar System planets and exoplanets. We specially emphasize the different origin, properties and consequences of the sheaths and ICMEs.

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Section: Icmes and Other Planetary Atmospheresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coronal mass ejections and their sheath regions in interplanetary space

Kilpua

Koskinen

Pulkkinen

2017

Living Rev Sol Phys

356

360

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“…CIR events represents a pronounced increase in the energy flux in the solar wind and are therefore very suitable to study the response of the near Mars space to increased energy input from the solar wind. We have used the same CIR events as in Edberg et al (2010) to make a data set which can be compared with the average conditions (excluding the CIR events). The CIR data consists of 41 high pressure events observed between July 2007 and September 2008.…”

Section: Acceleration Of Heavy Ions During Cir Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The response of the ion escape and the shape of the induced magnetosphere to changing solar wind flux and solar EUV could be qualitatively described for current conditions. Edberg et al (2010) and Nilsson et al (2011) looked at times when co-rotating interaction regions (CIR) arrived at Mars, and found that the outflow increased by a factor of on average 2.5 during a CIR, significantly less than the enhancement for solar maximum implied by the Phobos 2 measurements. The influence of magnetic anomalies on ion distributions have also been studied, e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion distributions in the vicinity of Mars: Signatures of heating and acceleration processes

et al. 2012

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More than three years of data from the ASPERA-3 instrument on-board Mars Express has been used to compile average distribution functions of ions in and around the Mars induced magnetosphere. We present samples of average distribution functions, as well as average flux patterns based on the average distribution functions, all suitable for detailed comparison with models of the near-Mars space environment. The average heavy ion distributions close to the planet form thermal populations with a temperature of 3 to 10 eV. The distribution functions in the tail consist of two populations, one cold which is an extension of the low altitude population, and one accelerated population of ionospheric origin ions. All significant fluxes of heavy ions in the tail are tailward. The heavy ions in the magnetosheath form a plume with the flow aligned with the bow shock, and a more radial flow direction than the solar wind origin flow. Summarizing the escape processes, ionospheric ions are heated close to the planet, presumably through wave-particle interaction. These heated populations are accelerated in the tailward direction in a restricted region. Another significant escape path is through the magnetosheath. A part of the ionospheric population is likely accelerated in the radial direction, out into the magnetosheath, although pick up of an oxygen exosphere may also be a viable source for this escape. Increased energy input from the solar wind during CIR events appear to mainly increase the number flux of escaping particles, the average energy of the escaping particles is not strongly affected. Heavy ions on the dayside may precipitate and cause sputtering of the atmosphere, though fluxes are likely lower than 0.4 × 10 23 s −1 .

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“…In contrast, Mars and Venus both lack a substantial intrinsic magnetic field. As a result, both suffer Appendix A is available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org significant atmospheric losses with Mars having a much thinner atmosphere (Wood 2006;Edberg et al 2010Edberg et al , 2011.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of stellar winds on the magnetospheres and potential habitability of exoplanets

See

Jardine

Vidotto

et al. 2014

A&A

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Context. The principle definition of habitability for exoplanets is whether they can sustain liquid water on their surfaces, i.e. that they orbit within the habitable zone. However, the planet's magnetosphere should also be considered, since without it, an exoplanet's atmosphere may be eroded away by stellar winds. Aims. The aim of this paper is to investigate magnetospheric protection of a planet from the effects of stellar winds from solar-mass stars. Methods. We study hypothetical Earth-like exoplanets orbiting in the host star's habitable zone for a sample of 124 solar-mass stars. These are targets that have been observed by the Bcool Collaboration. Using two wind models, we calculate the magnetospheric extent of each exoplanet. These wind models are computationally inexpensive and allow the community to quickly estimate the magnetospheric size of magnetised Earth-analogues orbiting cool stars. Results. Most of the simulated planets in our sample can maintain a magnetosphere of ∼5 Earth radii or larger. This suggests that magnetised Earth analogues in the habitable zones of solar analogues are able to protect their atmospheres and is in contrast to planets around young active M dwarfs. In general, we find that Earth-analogues around solar-type stars, of age 1.5 Gyr or older, can maintain at least a Paleoarchean Earth sized magnetosphere. Our results indicate that planets around 0.6-0.8 solar-mass stars on the low activity side of the Vaughan-Preston gap are the optimum observing targets for habitable Earth analogues.

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Pumping out the atmosphere of Mars through solar wind pressure pulses

Cited by 99 publications

References 15 publications

Coronal mass ejections and their sheath regions in interplanetary space

Coronal mass ejections and their sheath regions in interplanetary space

Ion distributions in the vicinity of Mars: Signatures of heating and acceleration processes

The effects of stellar winds on the magnetospheres and potential habitability of exoplanets

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