Electrostatic charging and dust transport at Mercury's surface

Ip, W.-H.

doi:10.1029/gl013i011p01133

Cited by 30 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The electron thermal current is easily much larger, although a detailed estimation is not possible for us as the electrons are not explicitly modelled in the quasi-neutral hybrid code. Thus, on the dayside there is no lack of current carries, but rather there may be a need for potential drops or barriers that limit the electron thermal current and negative charging of the planet (see Ip, 1986, for an analysis of surface charging).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface conductivity of Mercury provides current closure and may affect magnetospheric symmetry

Janhunen

Kallio²

2004

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract.We study what effect a possible surface conductivity of Mercury has on the closure of magnetospheric currents by making six runs with a quasi-neutral hybrid simulation. The runs are otherwise identical but use different synthetic conductivity models: run 1 has a fully conducting planet, run 2 has a poorly conducting planet (σ =10 −8 −1 m −1 ) and runs 3-6 have one of the hemispheres either in the dawn-dusk or day-night directions, conducting well, the other one being conducting poorly. Although the surface conductivity is not known from observations, educated guesses easily give such conductivity values that magnetospheric currents may close partly within the planet, and as the conductivity depends heavily on the mineral composition of the surface, the possibility of significant horizontal variations cannot be easily excluded. The simulation results show that strong horizontal variations may produce modest magnetospheric asymmetries. Beyond the hybrid simulation, we also briefly discuss the possibility that in the nightside there may be a lack of surface electrons to carry downward current, which may act as a further source of surface-related magnetospheric asymmetry.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface conductivity of Mercury provides current closure and may affect magnetospheric symmetry

Janhunen

Kallio²

2004

Ann. Geophys.

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“…[5] Besides Earth's moon, the concept of surface charging has been applied in only a few solar system bodies, such as Mercury [Ip, 1986;Janhunen and Kallio, 2004] and asteroids [Lee, 1996]. Application to asteroids has shown that surface charging may actually be important for electrostatic dust transport [Colwell et al, 2005].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface charging of Saturn's plasma‐absorbing moons

et al. 2010

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[1] Recent results from the study of the interaction of Earth's moon with the solar wind have highlighted lunar surface charging as an important physical process not only for the local interaction of the surface and the impinging plasma but also for charged dust ejection and transport. Excluding Earth's moon, however, such studies have been limited to very few solar system bodies. Here we assess the importance of surface charging for the Saturnian plasma-absorbing moons. In this initial study, we focus on the various moons' trailing hemispheres and their variable charging patterns as a function of their magnetospheric local time. With only a few exceptions, our results indicate negative potentials for all moons, with the most extreme values predicted for Rhea. When the leading hemisphere is partially sunlit, the surface potential profile can be quite complex with many different transition regions. We also find that electrostatic acceleration of dust is at least equally as (if not more) important as it is for Earth's moon for the submicron grains, but it is probably not sufficient to explain the detection of the larger micron-sized grains in the vicinity of the large moons of the outer planets. Regarding Saturn's asteroid-sized moons, we predict that electrostatic forces can accelerate grains above the escape velocity and populate the Saturnian system and/or contribute to dust transport across those moons' surfaces. On the basis of these results, we also propose several methods by which Cassini's instruments could be used to directly observe the effects of surface charging.

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“…Ip (1986) suggested that the nightside surface of Mercury might be negatively charged (up to perhaps a kilovolt) because of the difference in thermal velocity between ions and electrons. If this were indeed the case, a horizontal electric field would be set up on the dawn and dusk flanks, directed toward the nightside, potentially also contributing to a redistribution of charge, and possibly mapping into the magnetosphere along the magnetic field lines.…”

Section: Surface Charging and Charge Redistributionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Magnetosphere–Exosphere–Surface Coupling at Mercury

Orsini¹,

Blomberg

Delcourt

et al. 2007

Space Sci Rev

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Mercury's environment is a complex system, resulting from the interaction between the solar wind, magnetosphere, exosphere and surface. A comprehensive description of its characteristics requires a detailed study of these four elements. This paper illustrates and discusses the key processes that are implicated in the strong coupling of the Hermean magnetosphere with the other elements. The magnetosphere of Mercury, frequently called "mini-magnetosphere", when compared to that of Earth, plays a significant role in controlling the planet source and loss processes, by means of both particle and field interactions. We review the status of our knowledge, and give possible interpretations of the still-limited data set presently available.

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Electrostatic charging and dust transport at Mercury's surface

Cited by 30 publications

References 20 publications

Surface conductivity of Mercury provides current closure and may affect magnetospheric symmetry

Surface conductivity of Mercury provides current closure and may affect magnetospheric symmetry

Surface charging of Saturn's plasma‐absorbing moons

Magnetosphere–Exosphere–Surface Coupling at Mercury

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