MHD and Kinetic Modeling of the Ionospheres of Venus and Mars
- National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Koganei, Tokyo 184-8795 (Japan)
It is widely recognized that both Venus and Mars possess no significant global intrinsic magnetic fields, and that the solar wind interacts directly with the upper atmospheres and ionospheres of Venus and Mars. In addition, local crustal magnetic fields are also present in various regions at Mars, suggesting that some regions of the Martian ionosphere are influenced not only by the solar wind but also by the crustal magnetic field. Previous studies have suggested that the basic structures of the ionospheres of the planets can be described by fluid and MHD(magnetohydrodynamic) processes. Various models of the ionospheres of Venus and Mars based on the MHD formulation have been constructed during the last two decades. Although the MHD approach has been successful in reproducing the ionospheres of the planets, some studies have indicated that MHD modeling is not necessarily appropriate in the regions of the topside ionosphere, the ionopause, and the magnetosheath, where the ion kinetic processes are likely to play an important role. The kinetic processes in the topside ionosphere might have significant influences even in the lower ionosphere. Thanks to a great progress made for computer power as well as the efficiency of calculations of the hybrid model, high-resolution kinetic models of the solar wind interaction with Venus and Mars, which self-consistently include the ionosphere, have been developed. In this paper, status of MHD and kinetic modeling of the ionospheres of Venus and Mars is briefly reviewed.
- OSTI ID:
- 21316813
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1144, Issue 1; Conference: International conference on future perspectives of space plasma and particle instrumentation and international collaborations, Tokyo (Japan), 1-3 Nov 2006; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3169307; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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