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1.
Faez Bakalian 《Icarus》2006,183(1):69-78
The energy and altitude distributions for nitrogen atoms produced from photodissociation of N2 and dissociative recombination of N+2 have been computed for the low and high solar activity martian thermospheres. We find that the fraction of nitrogen atoms with E>Eesc at the exobase is ∼2.5% for photodissociation as compared to ∼22.6% for dissociative recombination. However, the peak magnitudes of the production rate profiles for dissociative recombination are a factor of ∼1000 and ∼200 times smaller than those of photodissociation at low and high solar activities, respectively. Thus, our findings suggest that photodissociation of N2 is the dominant escape mechanism for atomic nitrogen for both the low and high solar activity martian thermospheres. The general consensus in the field prior to these research results was that dissociative recombination of N+2 was the main escape mechanism. We find that it is the dissociation of N2 along repulsive states that results in the production of very energetic nitrogen atoms.  相似文献   

2.
Faez Bakalian 《Icarus》2007,192(1):302-303
This response is to address some of the comments made by Dr. Fox and also to clarify some points in the Bakalian [2006. Icarus 183, 69-73] and Bakalian and Hartle [2006. Icarus 183, 55-68] papers. It is regrettable that some of the statements in the Bakalian and Bakalian and Hartle papers were misinterpreted.  相似文献   

3.
Bar-Nun and Dimitrov [Bar-Nun, A., Dimitrov, V., 2006. Icarus 181, 320-322] suggested a sequence of reactions to form methane on Mars. These reactions are based on the study of products in the N2-CO-H2O mixture irradiated at 185 nm. The suggested scheme was not quantitatively justified by chemical kinetics. One of the key reactions is effectively blocked by O2 in the martian atmosphere, and another key reaction does not exist. There are no pathways for effective formation of methane in the martian atmosphere.  相似文献   

4.
Quantitative calculations of the escape rate of nitrogen by photodissociation and photoionization, by photoelectron impact processes, by chemical reactions and by dissociative recombination are reported. It is shown that the predicted present escape rate of 2.0 × 105 atoms cm?2 S?1 is consistent with the measured 15N/14N isotope ratio. A minimum of 4.0 × 1022 cm?2 S?1 is obtained for the initial reservoir of N2. The production rates of N(4S) and N(2D) atoms in the atmosphere are obtained and the altitude profile of N(2D) is calculated.  相似文献   

5.
Monte Carlo simulations were carried out to compute the escape flux of atomic nitrogen for the low and high solar activity martian thermospheres. The total escape of atomic nitrogen at low and high solar activities was found to be 3.03×105 and , respectively. The escape flux of atomic nitrogen at low and high solar activities from photodissociation of N2 was found to be 2.75×105 and , respectively. The remainder of the contribution is from dissociative recombination, which is only important at high solar activity were it comprises about 25% of the total escape. The relative contributions to the total N escape flux from thermal motion of the background atmosphere, winds and co-rotation, and photoionization and subsequent solar wind pickup are also considered here. We find that the total predicted escape fluxes are observed to increase by 20 and 25% at low and high solar activities owing to thermal motion of the background atmosphere. At low and high solar activities, we find that the co-rotation and wind velocities combined translate to a maximum transferable energy of ∼0.0103 and 0.0181 eV, respectively, and that the total escape flux contribution from winds and co-rotation is negligible. Photoionization was found to be a minor process only impacting those source atoms produced with energies close to the escape energy, between 1.5 and 2 eV. The contributions to the total escape fluxes at low and high solar activities from photoionization and subsequent solar wind pickup are found to be about 8 and 13%, respectively.  相似文献   

6.
The detection of CH4 in the martian atmosphere, at a mixing ratio of about 10 ppb, prompted Krasnopolsky et al. [Krasnopolsky, V.A., Maillard, J.P., Owen, T.C., 2004. Icarus 172, 537-547] and Krasnopolsky [Krasnopolsky, V.A., 2006. Icarus 180, 359-367] to propose that the CH4 is of biogenic origin. Bar-Nun and Dimitrov [Bar-Nun, A., Dimitrov, V., 2006. Icarus 181, 320-322] proposed that CH4 can be formed in the martian atmosphere by photolysis of H2O in the presence of CO. We based our arguments on a clear demonstration that CH4 is formed in our experiments, and on thermodynamic equilibrium calculations, which show that CH4 formation is favored even in the presence of oxygen at a mixing ratio 1.3×10−3, as observed on Mars. In the present comment, Krasnopolsky [Krasnopolsky, V.A., 2007. Icarus, in press (this issue)] presents his arguments against the suggestion of Bar-Nun and Dimitrov [Bar-Nun, A., Dimitrov, V., 2006. Icarus 181, 320-322], based on the effect of O2 on CH4 formation, the absence of kinetic pathways for CH4 formation and on the inadequacy of thermodynamic equilibrium calculations to describe the martian atmosphere. In this rebuttal we demonstrate that experiments with molecular oxygen at a ratio of O2/CO2=(8.9-17)×10−3, exceeding the martian ratio, still form CH4. Thermodynamic equilibrium calculations replicate the experimental CH4 mixing ratio to within a factor of 1.9 and demonstrate that CH4 production is favored in the martian atmosphere, which is obviously not in thermodynamic equilibrium. Consequently, we do not find the presence of methane to be a sign of biological activity on Mars.  相似文献   

7.
The yield of metastable nitrogen atoms in dissociative recombination of N2+ (v = 0, 1)ions has been tudied for different experimental conditions. In a first experiment, the branching ratio for N(2D) production was directly measured as being higher than 1.85; for N2+ (v = 0) this implies that 2D + 2D is the main reaction channel; for N2+ (v = 1) a minor channel could be 2P + 2D, 2P being then quenched toward 2D by electrons. In a second experiment, at higher electron densities, the influence of superelastic collisions was studied; a steady state analysis yields the quenching rate coefficient k4, of 2D towards 4S equal to 2.4 × 10?10 cm3 s?1for Te = 3900 K and shows that 2D + 2D is always the major channel of the reaction for N2+ (v = 1), 2D + 2P being a minor channel. All these results are in good agreement with thermospheric models but imply that N2+ dissociative recombination is a less important source for nitrogen escape of Mars.  相似文献   

8.
Rates of production of O(1 D) atoms in the upper atmosphere by photodissociation of O2, dissociative recombination of O2 +, NO+ and electron impact excitation of O(3 P) have been calculated for low, medium and high levels of solar activity. Variations with solar activity, of neutral and ionic composition, electron and neutral temperatures of the upper atmosphere and solar extreme ultraviolet fluxes incident on it have been taken into consideration.Emission rates ofOi red line (6300Å) have been computed taking into account the deactivation both by molecular oxygen and nitrogen. It has been shown that the integrated intensity from low to high activity period varies by approximately an order of magnitude in agreement with the results of experimental observations.  相似文献   

9.
The processes of the kinetics and transport of hot oxygen atoms in the transition (between thermosphere and exosphere) region of the upper atmosphere of Mars are studied. The reaction of dissociative recombination of the main ionospheric ion O 2 + with thermal electrons in the ionosphere of Mars is considered as a source of hot oxygen atoms. The distribution of suprathermal oxygen atoms by kinetic energy is calculated. It is shown that the exosphere is populated by a considerable number of suprathermal oxygen atoms with kinetic energies just below the escape energy of 2 eV; that is, a hot oxygen corona of Mars is formed.  相似文献   

10.
The evolution of the martian atmosphere with regard to its H2O inventory is influenced by thermal loss processes of H, H2, nonthermal atmospheric loss processes of H+, H2+, O, O+, CO2, and O2+ into space, as well as by chemical weathering of the surface soil. The evolution of thermal and nonthermal escape processes depend on the history of the intensity of the solar XUV radiation and the solar wind density. Thus, we use actual data from the observation of solar proxies with different ages from the Sun in Time program for reconstructing the Sun's radiation and particle environment from the present to 3.5 Gyr ago. The correlation between mass loss and X-ray surface flux of solar proxies follows a power law relationship, which indicates a solar wind density up to 1000 times higher at the beginning of the Sun's main sequence lifetime. For the study of various atmospheric escape processes we used a gas dynamic test particle model for the estimation of the pick up ion loss rates and considered pick up ion sputtering, as well as dissociative recombination. The loss of H2O from Mars over the last 3.5 Gyr was estimated to be equivalent to a global martian H2O ocean with a depth of about 12 m, which is smaller than the values reported by previous studies. If ion momentum transport, a process studied in detail by Mars Express is significant on Mars, the water loss may be enhanced by a factor of about 2. In our investigation we found that the sum of thermal and nonthermal atmospheric loss rates of H and all nonthermal escape processes of O to space are not compatible with a ratio of 2:1, and is currently close to about 20:1. Escape to space cannot therefore be the only sink for oxygen on Mars. Our results suggest that the missing oxygen (needed for the validation of the 2:1 ratio between H and O) can be explained by the incorporation into the martian surface by chemical weathering processes since the onset of intense oxidation about 2 Gyr ago. Based on the evolution of the atmosphere-surface-interaction on Mars, an overall global surface sink of about 2×1042 oxygen particles in the regolith can be expected. Because of the intense oxidation of inorganic matter, this process may have led to the formation of considerable amounts of sulfates and ferric oxides on Mars. To model this effect we consider several factors: (1) the amount of incorporated oxygen, (2) the inorganic composition of the martian soil and (3) meteoritic gardening. We show that the oxygen incorporation has also implications for the oxidant extinction depth, which is an important parameter to determine required sampling depths on Mars aimed at finding putative organic material. We found that the oxidant extinction depth is expected to lie in a range between 2 and 5 m for global mean values.  相似文献   

11.
The processes of kinetics and transport of hot oxygen and hydrogen atoms in the transition (from the thermosphere to the exosphere) region of the upper Martian atmosphere are studied. The reaction of dissociative recombination of the principal ionospheric ion O 2 + with thermal electrons in the ionosphere of Mars served as the source of hot oxygen atoms. The process of momentum and energy transfer in elastic collisions between hot oxygen atoms and atmospheric hydrogen atoms with thermal energies was regarded as the source of hot hydrogen atoms. The kinetic energy distribution functions are determined for suprathermal oxygen and hydrogen atoms. It is shown that the exosphere is populated with a significant number of suprathermal oxygen atoms with kinetic energies ranging up to the escape energy of 2 eV (i.e., the hot oxygen Martian corona is formed). The transfer of energy from hot oxygen atoms to thermal hydrogen atoms creates an additional nonthermal flux of atomic hydrogen escaping from the Martian atmosphere.  相似文献   

12.
This paper analyzes the formation, kinetics, and transport of hot oxygen atoms in the atmosphere of the Jovian satellite Europa. Atmospheric sources of suprathermal oxygen atoms are assumed to be represented by the processes of dissociation of molecular oxygen, which is the main component of the atmosphere, by solar UV radiation and electron fluxes from the inner magnetosphere of Jupiter, as well as by the reaction of dissociative recombination of the main ionospheric ion O 2 + which thermal electrons. It is shown that dissociation in Europa’s near-surface atmosphere is balanced by the processes of the loss of atomic oxygen due to the effective escape of suprathermal oxygen atoms into the inner magnetosphere of Jupiter along the orbit of Europa and due to ionization by magnetospheric electrons and catalytic recombination of oxygen atoms on the icy surface of the satellite. It thus follows that atomic oxygen is only a small admixture to the main atmospheric component—molecular oxygen—in the near-surface part of the atmosphere. However, the outer exospheric layers of Europa’s atmosphere are populated mostly by suprathermal oxygen atoms. The near-surface molecular envelope of Europa is therefore surrounded by a tenuous extended corona of hot atomic oxygen.  相似文献   

13.
A 3-D Monte Carlo model is used to describe the ejection of N and N2 from Titan due to the interaction of Saturn's magnetospheric N+ ions and molecular pick-up ions with its N2 atmosphere. Based on estimates of the ion flux into Titan's corona, atmospheric sputtering is an important source of both atomic and molecular nitrogen for the neutral torus and plasma in Saturn's outer magnetosphere, a region now being studied by the Cassini spacecraft.  相似文献   

14.
Dirty ice of a second kind (major components, H2O, CO, and N2; minor components less than several percents, NH3, CH4, and other organic substances such as HCN, CH3CN etc.) is assumed for the composition of volatiles in the cometary nucleus. The consistency with the observations of molecular ions and daughter molecules in the cometary atmosphere is argued by taking into account various ion-molecular reactions and dissociative recombinations. There is a satisfactory agreement for the second kind of dirty-ice model, but the presence of large amounts of CH4 and NH3 is found to be rather in contradiction with observational evidence. A velocity of 8 km s?1 for the hydrogen atoms, derived from analysis of the hydrogen Lyman-alpha corona around comets, is found from the dissociative recombination of H3O+, the dominant constituent of cometary ionosphere, in accordance with H3O++e ?→OH+H+H.  相似文献   

15.
Ground-based optical observations of D1 and D2 line emissions from Jupiter’s sodium nebula, which extend over several hundreds of jovian radii, were carried out at Mt. Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii using a wide field filter imager from May 19 to June 21, 2007. During this observation, the east-west asymmetry of the nebula with respect to the Io’s orbital motion was clearly identified. Particularly, the D1+D2 brightness on the western side of Jupiter is strongly controlled by the Io phase angle. The following scenario was developed to explain this phenomenon as follows: First, more ionospheric ions like NaX+, which are thought to produce fast neutral sodium atoms due to a dissociative recombination process, are expected to exist in Io’s dayside hemisphere rather than in the nightside one. Second, it is expected that more NaX+ ionospheric ions are picked up by the jovian co-rotating magnetic field when Io’s leading hemisphere is illuminated by the Sun. Third, the sodium atom ejection rate varies with respect to Io’s orbital position as a result of the first two points. Model simulations were performed using this scenario. The model results were consistent with the observation results, suggesting that Io’s ionosphere is expected to be controlled by solar radiation just like Earth.  相似文献   

16.
The dissociation of N2 by electron impact and by e.u.v. photo-absorption is studied, and it is shown that the forbidden predissociation of the numerous 1Πu and 1Σu+ valence and Rydberg states of N2 in the 11–24eV energy range is the dominant mechanism for N atom production. By measuring the absolute emission cross sections for the e.u.v. singlet bands of N2 and by using the generalized oscillator strength data of Lassettre (1974), it has been possible to construct a detailed model of the total N2 dissociation cross section which is in good agreement with the measurements of Winters (1966) and Niehaus (1967) and provides some insights into the maximum possible N(2D) yield from dissociative excitation. The total cross section for exciting N2 e.u.v. radiation in the 800Å–1100Å wavelength range has been measured and found to have a value of 3.4 ×10?17 cm2 at 100 eV under optically thin conditions. Although this result implies that large fluxes of e.u.v. photons should be excited in auroral substorms and in the airglow, they are not observed, and we show that this development is a consequence of radiation entrapment and predissociation. The total cross section for dissociating N2 by electron impact is given for optically thin and thick media. And some questions concerning the energy budget of a magnetospheric storm which are raised by these results, are discussed.  相似文献   

17.
Abstract– None of the well‐established nitrogen‐related IR absorption bands, common in synthetic and terrestrial diamonds, have been identified in the presolar diamond spectra. In the carbonado diamond spectra, only the single nitrogen impurity (C center) is identified and the assignments of the rest of the nitrogen‐related bands are still debated. It is speculated that the unidentified bands in the nitrogen absorption region are not induced by nitrogen, but rather by nitrogen‐hydrides because in the interstellar environment, nitrogen reacts with hydrogen and forms NH+; NH; NH2; NH3. Among these hydrides, the electronic configuration of NH+ is the closest to carbon. Thus, this ionized nitrogen‐mono‐hydride is the best candidate to substitute carbon in the diamond structure. The bands of the substitutional NH+ defect are deduced by redshifting the irradiation‐induced N+ bands due to the mass of the additional hydrogen. The six bands of the NH+ defects are identified in both the presolar and the carbonado diamond spectra. The new assignments identify all of the nitrogen‐related bands in the spectra, indicating that presolar and carbonado diamonds contain only single nitrogen impurities.  相似文献   

18.
The processes of the kinetics and transport of hot oxygen atoms in the upper atmosphere of Mars are studied. A reaction of dissociative recombination of the main ionospheric ion O 2 + with thermal electrons is considered as a photochemical source of suprathermal oxygen atoms. Oxygen atoms are formed in the dissociative recombination reaction with an excess of kinetic energy of about 0.4–4 eV and lose that energy in elastic and inelastic collisions with the ambient thermal atmospheric gas. The altitude distributions of the concentrations of neutral and ionized components, as well as their temperatures, were taken from Krasnopolsky (2002). Unlike the models published earlier, detailed calculations of the formation, collisional kinetics, and transport of suprathermal oxygen atoms in the thermosphere-exosphere transition region of the upper atmosphere of Mars have been made for the first time. For this, we used a stochastic model of the formation of a hot planetary corona (Shematovich, 2004). It has been shown that the considered photochemical source of suprathermal oxygen leads to the formation of the hot corona and to higher nonthermal losses of oxygen from the upper atmosphere of Mars due to escape fluxes. The detailed energy spectra of the fluxes of suprathermal atomic oxygen were calculated for the thermosphere-exosphere transition region of the Martian atmosphere.Translated from Astronomicheskii Vestnik, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2005, pp. 26–37.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Krestyanikova, Shematovich.  相似文献   

19.
The argument for the similarity of the composition of cometary volatiles to that of interstellar molecules has been strengthened by the analysis of CO+ and CO 2 + emission of the comet West. The strong 6300 Å emission of oxygen atoms can be interpreted in terms of photodissociation of OH by the solar Lyman-alpha radiation, and not as being due to photo-dissociation of CO2 of speculatively large amount.  相似文献   

20.
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