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

Available on ORBi :

since 22 May 2020

Statistics

Number of views

39 (1 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

1 (1 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

OpenAlex citations

Bibliography

Anderson, D. E. (1974). Mariner 6, 7 and 9 ultraviolet spectrometer experiment: Analysis of hydrogen Lyman alpha data. Journal of Geophysical Research, 79(10), 1513–1518. https://doi.org/10.1029/JA079i010p01513
Bhattacharyya, D., Clarke, J., Bertaux, J.-L., Chaufray, J.-Y., & Mayyasi, M. (2017). Analysis and modeling of remote observations of the Martian hydrogen exosphere. Icarus, 281, 264–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.08.034
Bhattacharyya, D., Clarke, J. T., Bertaux, J.-L., Chaufray, J.-Y., & Mayyasi, M. (2015). A strong seasonal dependence in the Martian hydrogen exosphere. Geophysical Research Letters, 42, 8678–8685. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL065804
Chaffin, M., Chaufray, J.-Y., Stewart, I., Montmessin, F., Schneider, N. M., & Bertaux, J.-L. (2014). Unexpected variability of Martian hydrogen escape. Geophysical Research Letters, 41, 314–320. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058578
Chaffin, M., Deighan, J., Schneider, N., & Stewart, I. (2017). Elevated atmospheric escape of atomic hydrogen from Mars induced by high-altitude water. Nature Geoscience, 10(3), 174–178. https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2887
Chamberlin, P., Woods, T., Didkovsky, L., Eparvier, F., Jones, A., Mason, J., et al. (2018). Solar ultraviolet irradiance observations of the solar flares during the intense September 2017 strom period. Space Weather, 16. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018SW001866
Clarke, J. T., Bertaux, J.-L., Chaufray, J.-Y., Gladstone, G. R., Quemerais, E., Wilson, J. K., & Bhattacharyya, D. (2014). A rapid decrease of the hydrogen corona of Mars. Geophysical Research Letters, 41, 8013–8020. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL061803
Ehresmann, B., Hassler, D. M., Zeitlin, C., Guo, J., Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F., Matthiä, D., et al. (2018). Energetic Particle Radiation Environment Observed by RAD on the Surface of Mars during the September 2017 Event. Geophysical Research Letters, 45. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077801
Elrod, M., Curry, S., Thiemann, E., & Jain, S. (2018). September 2017 solar flare event: Rapid heating of the Martian neutral thermosphere from the X-class flare as observed by MAVEN, Geophysical Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077729
Emerich, C., Lemaire, P., Vial, J.-C., Curdt, W., Schühle, U., & Wilhelm, K. (2005). A new relation between the central spectral solar H I Lyman α irradiance and the line irradiance measured by SUMER/SOHO during the cycle 23. Icarus, 178(2), 429–433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2005.05.002
Eparvier, F., Chamberlin, P., Woods, T., & Thiemann, E. (2015). The solar extreme ultraviolet monitor for MAVEN. Space Science Reviews, 195(1–4), 293–301. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-015-0195-2
Fallows, K., Withers, P., & Gonzalez, G. (2015). Response of the Mars ionosphere to solar flares: Analysis of MGS radio occultation data. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 120, 9805–9825. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JA021108
Futaana, Y., Barabash, S., Yamauchi, M., McKenna-Lawlor, S., Lundin, R., Luhmann, J. G., et al. (2008). Mars Express and Venus Express multi-point observations of geoeffective solar flare events in December 2006. Planetary and Space Science, 56(6), 873–880. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.007310.014
Gray, L. J., Beer, J., Geller, M., Haigh, J. D., Lockwood, M., Matthes, K., et al. (2010). Solar influences on climate. Reviews of Geophysics, 48, RG4001. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009RG000282
Heavens, N., Kleinböhl, A., Chaffin, M., Halekas, J., Kass, D., Hayne, P., et al. (2018). Hydrogen escape from Mars enhanced by deep convection in dust storms. Nature Astronomy, 2(2), 126–132. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0353-4
Holmström, M. (2006). Asymmetries in Mars' exosphere. Space Science Reviews, 126(1–4), 435–445. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-006-9036-7
Jain, S., Deighan, J., Schneider, N. M., Stewart, A. I. F., Evans, J. S., Thiemann, E. M. B., et al. (2018). Martian thermospheric response to an X8.2 solar flare on 10 September 2017 as seen by MAVEN/IUVS, Geophysical Research Letters, 45, 7312–7319, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017GL077731
Jakosky, B. (2015). MAVEN explores the Martian upper atmosphere. Science, 350(6261), 643. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad3443
Jakosky, B. M., Grebowsky, J. M., Luhmann, J. G., Connerney, J., Eparvier, F., Ergun, R., et al. (2015). MAVEN observations of the response of Mars to an interplanetary coronal mass ejection. Science, 350(6261), aad0210. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad0210
Krasnopolsky, V. A. (2002). Mars' upper atmosphere and ionosphere at low, medium, and high solar activities: Implications for evolution of water. Journal of Geophysical Research, 107(E12), 5128. https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JE001809
Larson, D., Lillis, R., Lee, C., Dunn, P., Hatch, K., Robinson, M., et al. (2015). The MAVEN solar energetic particle investigation. Space Science Reviews, 195(1–4), 153–172. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-015-0218-z
Lee, C. O., Jakosky, B. M., Luhmann, J. G., Brain, D. A., Mays, M. L., Hassler, D. M., et al. (2018). Observations and impacts of the 10 September 2017 solar events at Mars: An overview and synthesis of the initial results. Geophysical Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079162
Lollo, A., Withers, P., Fallows, K., Girazian, Z., Matta, M., & Chamberlin, P. C. (2012). Numerical simulations of the ionosphere of Mars during a solar flare. Journal of Geophysical Research, 117, A05314. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JA017399
Mahaffy, P. R., Benna, M., King, T., Harpold, D. N., Arvey, R., Barciniak, M., et al. (2014). The neutral gas and ion mass spectrometer on the Mars atmosphere and volatile evolution mission. Space Science Reviews, 195(1-4), 49–73. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-014-0091-1
Matta, M. (2013). Modeling the Martian Ionosphere, (PhD). Boston University, Boston, MA.
Matta, M., Withers, P., & Mendillo, M. (2013). The composition of Mars' topside ionosphere: Effects of hydrogen. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 118, 2681–2693. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgra.50104
Mayyasi, M., Clarke, J., Quémerais, E., Katushkina, O., Bhattacharyya, D., Chaufray, J. Y., et al. (2017). IUVS echelle-mode observations of interplanetary hydrogen: Standard for calibration and reference for cavity variations between Earth and Mars during MAVEN cruise. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 122, 2089–2105. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JA023466
McClintock, W., Schneider, N. M., Holsclaw, G. M., Clarke, J. T., Hoskins, A. C., Stewart, I., et al. (2015). The Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) for the MAVEN mission. Space Science Reviews, 195(1–4), 75–124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-014-0098-7
Mendillo, M., Withers, P., Hinson, D., Rishbeth, H., & Reinisch, B. (2006). Effects of solar flares on the ionosphere of Mars. Science, 311(5764), 1135–1138. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1122099
Montmessin, F., Forget, F., Rannou, P., Cabane, M., & Haberle, R. M. (2004). Origin and role of water ice clouds in the Martian water cycle as inferred from a general circulation model. Journal of Geophysical Research, 109, E10004. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JE002284
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2017). Report series: Committee on solar and space physics: Heliophysics Science Centers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24803
Rottman, G. J., Thomas, N. W., & McClintock, W. (2006). SORCE solar UV irradiance results. Advances in Space Science, 37(2), 201–208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2005.02.072
Thiemann, E. M. B., Andersson, L., Lillis, R., Withers, P., Xu, S., Elrod, M., et al. (2018). The Mars Topside Ionosphere Response to the X8.2 Solar Flare of 10 September 2017. Geophysical Research Letters, 45. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077730
Thiemann, E. M. B., Eparvier, F. G., Andersson, L. A., Fowler, C. M., Peterson, W. K., Mahaffy, P. R., et al. (2015). Neutral density response to solar flares at Mars. Geophysical Research Letters, 42, 8986–8992. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL066334