Unique, non‐Earthlike, meteoritic ion behavior in upper atmosphere of Mars
Abstract Interplanetary dust particles have long been expected to produce permanent ionospheric metal ion layers at Mars, as on Earth, but the two environments are so different that uncertainty existed as to whether terrestrial‐established understanding would apply to Mars. The Mars Atmosphere and V...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2017-04-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL072635 |
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| author | J. M. Grebowsky M. Benna J. M. C. Plane G. A. Collinson P. R. Mahaffy B. M. Jakosky |
| author_facet | J. M. Grebowsky M. Benna J. M. C. Plane G. A. Collinson P. R. Mahaffy B. M. Jakosky |
| author_sort | J. M. Grebowsky |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Interplanetary dust particles have long been expected to produce permanent ionospheric metal ion layers at Mars, as on Earth, but the two environments are so different that uncertainty existed as to whether terrestrial‐established understanding would apply to Mars. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission made the first in situ detection of the continuous presence of Na+, Mg+, and Fe+ at Mars and indeed revealed non‐Earthlike features/processes. There is no separation of the light Mg+ and the heavy Fe+ with increasing altitude as expected for gravity control. The metal ions are well‐mixed with the neutral atmosphere at altitudes where no mixing process is expected. Isolated metal ion layers mimicking Earth's sporadic E layers occur despite the lack of a strong magnetic field as required at Earth. Further, the metal ion distributions are coherent enough to always show atmospheric gravity wave signatures. All features and processes are unique to Mars. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b7a3d65a63dc4e9a8c85c1e65d43a29b |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2017-04-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-b7a3d65a63dc4e9a8c85c1e65d43a29b2025-08-20T02:31:41ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072017-04-014473066307210.1002/2017GL072635Unique, non‐Earthlike, meteoritic ion behavior in upper atmosphere of MarsJ. M. Grebowsky0M. Benna1J. M. C. Plane2G. A. Collinson3P. R. Mahaffy4B. M. Jakosky5NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USASchool of Chemistry University of Leeds Leeds UKNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USALaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado Boulder Boulder Colorado USAAbstract Interplanetary dust particles have long been expected to produce permanent ionospheric metal ion layers at Mars, as on Earth, but the two environments are so different that uncertainty existed as to whether terrestrial‐established understanding would apply to Mars. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission made the first in situ detection of the continuous presence of Na+, Mg+, and Fe+ at Mars and indeed revealed non‐Earthlike features/processes. There is no separation of the light Mg+ and the heavy Fe+ with increasing altitude as expected for gravity control. The metal ions are well‐mixed with the neutral atmosphere at altitudes where no mixing process is expected. Isolated metal ion layers mimicking Earth's sporadic E layers occur despite the lack of a strong magnetic field as required at Earth. Further, the metal ion distributions are coherent enough to always show atmospheric gravity wave signatures. All features and processes are unique to Mars.https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL072635interplanetary dustMars ionospheremetal ionsion transportgravity waves |
| spellingShingle | J. M. Grebowsky M. Benna J. M. C. Plane G. A. Collinson P. R. Mahaffy B. M. Jakosky Unique, non‐Earthlike, meteoritic ion behavior in upper atmosphere of Mars Geophysical Research Letters interplanetary dust Mars ionosphere metal ions ion transport gravity waves |
| title | Unique, non‐Earthlike, meteoritic ion behavior in upper atmosphere of Mars |
| title_full | Unique, non‐Earthlike, meteoritic ion behavior in upper atmosphere of Mars |
| title_fullStr | Unique, non‐Earthlike, meteoritic ion behavior in upper atmosphere of Mars |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unique, non‐Earthlike, meteoritic ion behavior in upper atmosphere of Mars |
| title_short | Unique, non‐Earthlike, meteoritic ion behavior in upper atmosphere of Mars |
| title_sort | unique non earthlike meteoritic ion behavior in upper atmosphere of mars |
| topic | interplanetary dust Mars ionosphere metal ions ion transport gravity waves |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL072635 |
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