Significant Space Weather Impact on the Escape of Hydrogen From Mars

Mars; Air pollution; Atmospheric composition; Hydrogen; Ionosphere; Active regions; Coronal mass ejection; Hydrogen escape; Hydrogen properties; Neutral species; Solar events; Space weather; Solar power generation; Martian atmosphere

Abstract :

[en] In September 2017, an active region of the Sun produced a series of strong flares and a coronal mass ejection that swept past Mars producing enhanced ionization and heating in the upper atmosphere. Emissions from atmospheric hydrogen Lyman-α were also enhanced at Mars. Temperatures derived from neutral species scale heights were used in conjunction with the H Lyman-α observations to simulate the effects of this space weather event on Martian hydrogen properties in the exosphere. It was found that hydrogen abundance in the upper atmosphere decreased by ~25% and that the H escape rate increased by a factor of 5, mainly through an increase in upper atmospheric temperature. This significant escape rate variation is comparable to seasonally observed trends but occurred at much shorter timescales. Such solar events would statistically impact extrapolation of Martian water loss over time. ©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Disciplines :

Space science, astronomy & astrophysics

Author, co-author :

Mayyasi, M.; Center for Space Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States

Bhattacharyya, D.; Center for Space Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States

Clarke, J.; Center for Space Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States

Catalano, A.; Center for Space Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States

Benna, M.; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States

Mahaffy, P.; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States

Thiemann, E.; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States

Lee, C. O.; Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States

Deighan, J.; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States

Jain, S.; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States

More authors (9 more)

Language :

English

Title :

Significant Space Weather Impact on the Escape of Hydrogen From Mars

Publication date :

2018

Journal title :

Geophysical Research Letters

ISSN :

0094-8276

eISSN :

1944-8007

Publisher :

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

8844-8852

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Funders :

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration [US-DC] [US-DC]

Available on ORBi :

since 22 May 2020

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