Importance of Ambipolar Electric Field in Driving Ion Loss From Mars: Results From a Multifluid MHD Model With the Electron Pressure Equation Included

Ma, Y. J.; Dong, C. F.; Toth, G.; Holst, B.; Nagy, A. F.; Russell, C. T.; Bougher, S.; Fang, Xiaohua; Halekas, J. S.; Espley, J. R.; Mahaffy, P. R.; Benna, M.; McFadden, J.; Jakosky, B. M.

doi:10.1029/2019ja027091

Importance of Ambipolar Electric Field in Driving Ion Loss From Mars: Results From a Multifluid MHD Model With the Electron Pressure Equation Included

Journal Article · Fri Oct 18 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2019ja027091· OSTI ID:1648060

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]; Holst, B. ^[3]; ^[3]; ^[1]; ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[5]; ^[6]; ^[6]; Benna, M. ^[6]; McFadden, J. ^[7]; ^[4]

Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States); Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Lab. for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (United States)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

The multi-fluid (MF) magnetohydrodynamic model of Mars is improved by solving an additional electron pressure equation. Through the electron pressure equation, the electron temperature is calculated based on the effects from various electron-related heating and cooling processes (e.g., photo-electron heating, electron-neutral collision, and electron-ion collision), and thus, the improved model can calculate the electron temperature and the electron pressure force terms self-consistently. Model results of a typical case using the MF with electron pressure equation included model are compared in detail to identical cases using the MF and multi-species models to identify the effect of the improved physics. Here, we find that when the electron pressure equation is included, the general interaction patterns are similar to those with no electron pressure equation. However, the MF with electron pressure equation included model predicts that the electron temperature is much larger than the ion temperature in the ionosphere, consistent with both Viking and Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) observations. Using our numerical model, we also examined in detail the relative importance of different forces in the plasma interaction region. All three models are also applied to a MAVEN event study using identical input conditions; overall, the improved model matches best with MAVEN observations. All of the simulation cases are examined in terms of the total ion loss, and the results show that the inclusion of the electron pressure equation increases the escape rates by 50–110% in total mass, depending on solar condition and strong crustal field orientation, clearly demonstrating the importance of the ambipolar electric field in facilitating ion escape.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-09CH11466

OSTI ID:: 1648060

Journal Information:: Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 124; ISSN 2169-9380

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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