Ablation and chemistry of meteoric materials in the atmosphere of Titan

English, Marianne; Lara, L. M.; Lorenz, Ralph D.; Ratcliff, P.R.; Rodrigo, R.

doi:10.1016/0273-1177(95)00774-9

Cited by 45 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…All previous photochemical models have modeled the O source as a downward flux at the top of the boundary. English et al (1996) developed a model to calculate the interplanetary dust flux into Titan's atmosphere. This model computes the input of meteoritic material at Titan, and by combining the results with an ablation model, it makes it possible to estimate leading and trailing deposition profiles at Titan for 100% water ice interplanetary meteoroids.…”

Section: Neutral Atmospherementioning

confidence: 99%

A Coupled Model of Titan's Atmosphere and Ionosphere

Banaszkiewicz

2000

Icarus

123

105

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Section: Neutral Atmospherementioning

confidence: 99%

A Coupled Model of Titan's Atmosphere and Ionosphere

Banaszkiewicz

2000

Icarus

123

105

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“…In parallel to the experimental observations, many theoretical studies have considered the effect of dust in the atmosphere of Venus (McAuliffe and Christou 2006), Mars (Adolfsson et al 1996;Pesnell and Grebowsky 2000;Molina-Cuberos et al 2003), Jupiter (Grebowsky 1981;Hinson et al 1998;Kim et al 2001), Saturn (Moses and Bass 2000), Titan (Ip 1990;English et al 1996;Molina-Cuberos et al 2001), Neptune (Moses 1992;Lyons 1995) and Triton (Pesnell et al 2004).…”

Section: The Interaction Of Meteoroids With a Planetary Atmospherementioning

confidence: 99%

“…From 2004, Cassini has been orbiting Saturn and several opportunities to sound the ionosphere by radio-occultation and even to determine ionic mass by INMS (Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer) will be available in the near future. In spite of the lack of experimental observations of the effects of meteoroids at Titan, some theoretical models have investigated the effects of meteoroids in the composition of neutral (English et al 1996) and ion (Molina-Cuberos et al 2001) species. Molina-Cuberos et al (2001) investigated the ablation of meteoroids and found that long-lived metallic ions considerably change the predictions of the electron number density due to models which only consider solar radiation and electrons trapped in the magnetosphere of Saturn.…”

Section: Titanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meteoric Layers in Planetary Atmospheres

2008

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Metallic ions coming from the ablation of extraterrestrial dust, play a significant role in the distribution of ions in the Earth's ionosphere. Ions of magnesium and iron, and to a lesser extent, sodium, aluminium, calcium and nickel, are a permanent feature of the lower E-region. The presence of interplanetary dust at long distances from the Sun has been confirmed by the measurements obtained by several spacecrafts. As on Earth, the flux of interplanetary meteoroids can affect the ionospheric structure of other planets. The electron density of many planets show multiple narrow layers below the main ionospheric peak which are similar, in magnitude, to the upper ones. These layers could be due to long-lived metallic ions supplied by interplanetary dust and/or their satellites. In the case of Mars, the presence of a non-permanent ionospheric layer at altitudes ranging from 65 to 110 km has been confirmed and the ion Mg + ·CO 2 identified. Here we present a review of the present status of observed low ionospheric layers in Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune together with meteoroid based models to explain the observations. Meteoroids could also affect the ionospheric structure of Titan, the largest Saturnian moon, and produce an ionospheric layer at around 700 km that could be investigated by Cassini.

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“…Ablation occurs between 450 700 km, giving rise to layers of metal atoms such as Na, Fe, Mg and Si (English et al, 1996;Ip, 1990;Molina-Cuberos et al, 2008). These atoms may react with various unsaturated hydrocarbons (by addition rather than abstraction), and the metal-containing organics and nitrogen-organics then condense to form MSPs.…”

Section: Photochemical Models Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uptake of acetylene on cosmic dust and production of benzene in Titan's atmosphere

Frankland

James

Carrillo‐Sánchez

et al. 2016

Icarus

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A low-temperature flow tube and ultra-high vacuum apparatus were used to explore the uptake and heterogeneous chemistry of acetylene (C2H2) on cosmic dust analogues over the temperature range encountered T below 600 km. The uptake coefficient, , was measured at 181 K to be (1.6 ± 0.4) × 10 -4 , (1.9 ± 0.4) × 10 -4 and (1.5 ± 0.4) × 10 -4 for the uptake of C2H2 on Mg2SiO4, MgFeSiO4 and Fe2SiO4, respectively, indicating that  is independent of Mg or Fe active sites. The uptake of C2H2 was also measured on SiO2 and SiC as analogues for meteoric smoke particles T but was found to be below the detection limit ( < 6 × 10 -8 and < 4 × 10 -7 , respectively). The rate of cyclo-trimerization of C2H2 to C6H6 was found to be 2.6 × 10 -5 exp(-741/T) s -1 , with an uncertainty ranging from ± 27 % at 115 K to ± 49 % at 181 K. A chemical ablation model was used to show that the bulk of cosmic dust particles (radius 0.02 -10  T mass loss through sputtering), thereby providing a significant surface for heterogeneous 2 chemistry. A 1D model of dust sedimentation shows that the production of C6H6 via uptake of C2H2 on cosmic dust, followed by cyclo-trimerization and desorption, is probably competitive with gas-phase production of C6H6 between 80 and 120 km.

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Ablation and chemistry of meteoric materials in the atmosphere of Titan

Cited by 45 publications

References 13 publications

A Coupled Model of Titan's Atmosphere and Ionosphere

A Coupled Model of Titan's Atmosphere and Ionosphere

Meteoric Layers in Planetary Atmospheres

Uptake of acetylene on cosmic dust and production of benzene in Titan's atmosphere

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