Impact of lightning on the lower ionosphere of Saturn and possible generation of halos and sprites

Dubrovin, D.; Luque, Alejandro; Gordillo‐Vázquez, F. J.; Yair, Yoav; Parra-Rojas, F. C.; Ebert, Ute; Price, Colin

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.06.025

Cited by 19 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Lightning chemistry has been explored with some basic chemical kinetics models, e.g., within Earth's mesosphere Ebert 2009 andParra-Rojas et al 2013) and Saturn's lower ionosphere (Dubrovin et al 2014). Dubrovin et al (2014) present interesting results for Saturn's lower ionosphere, predicting that TLEs within this region would produce mostly + H 3 , what they identify as the primary positive charge carrier during the duration of the TLE and for sometime after. This would mimic the effect of cosmic-ray ionization.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Chemical Kinetics Network for Lightning and Life in Planetary Atmospheres

Rimmer

Helling

2016

ApJS

130

154

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There are many open questions about prebiotic chemistry in both planetary and exoplanetary environments. The increasing number of known exoplanets and other ultra-cool, substellar objects has propelled the desire to detect life andprebiotic chemistry outside the solar system. We present an ion-neutral chemical network constructed from scratch, STAND2015, that treats hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen chemistry accurately within a temperature range between 100 and 30,000 K. Formation pathways for glycine and other organic molecules are included. The network is complete up to H6C2N2O3. STAND2015 is successfully tested against atmospheric chemistry models for HD 209458b, Jupiter, and the present-day Earth using a simple one-dimensionalphotochemistry/diffusion code. Our results for the early Earth agree with those of Kasting for CO 2 , H 2 , CO, and O 2 , but do not agree for water and atomic oxygen. We use the network to simulate an experiment where varied chemical initial conditions are irradiated by UV light. The result from our simulation is that more glycine is produced when more ammonia and methane is present. Very little glycine is produced in the absence of any molecular nitrogen and oxygen. This suggests that theproduction of glycine is inhibited if a gas is too strongly reducing. Possible applications and limitations of the chemical kinetics network are also discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Chemical Kinetics Network for Lightning and Life in Planetary Atmospheres

Rimmer

Helling

2016

ApJS

130

154

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“…We also assume that the charge centers are vertically separated by a distance a = 10 km, that is, the IC discharge takes place between vertically aligned clouds at 40 km and 50 km above the surface of Venus. Following Dubrovin et al [], we assume that the charge is being accumulated in uniformly charged, nonoverlapping identical spheres with a radius of R = 2.5 km [ Maggio et al , ]. By considering that the total energy released in Venus IC lightning ranges between 8 × 10 8 and 10 10 J [ Krasnopolsky , ] and 10 11 J as an extreme case, the calculation of the electrostatic energy stored by this configuration,

U_{p} = \frac{2 Q_{T}^{2}}{4 π ε_{0}} ((), \frac{3}{5 R} - \frac{1}{2 a}),

allows to estimate that the total dissipated or accumulated charge Q T is between 15 C and 170 C. Defining the total charge moment change (CMC) as for terrestrial lightning, that is, the product of the transmitted charge and the cloud to ground distance, we have M = Q T a /2.…”

Section: Model Of Ic Lightning On Venusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We also assume that the charge centers are vertically separated by a distance a = 10 km, that is, the IC discharge takes place between vertically aligned clouds at 40 km and 50 km above the surface of Venus. Following Dubrovin et al [2014], we assume that the charge is being accumulated in uniformly charged, nonoverlapping identical spheres with a radius of R = 2.5 km [Maggio et al, 2009]. By considering that the total energy released in Venus IC lightning ranges between 8 × 10 8 and 10 10 J [Krasnopolsky, 1980] and 10 11 J as an extreme case, the calculation of the electrostatic energy stored by this configuration,…”

Section: Model Of Ic Lightning On Venusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mesospheric optical signatures of possible lightning on Venus

2016

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A self‐consistent two‐dimensional model is proposed to account for the transient mesospheric nighttime optical emissions associated to possible intracloud (IC) lightning occurring in the Venusian troposphere. The model calculates the mesospheric (between 75 km and 120 km in altitude) quasi‐elestrostatic electric field and electron density produced in response to IC lightning activity located between 40 km and 65 km in the Venusian cloud layer. The optical signatures and the densities of perturbed excited atomic and molecular neutral and ionic species in the mesosphere of Venus are also calculated using a basic kinetic scheme. The calculations were performed for different IC lightning discharge properties. We found that the calculated electric fields in the mesosphere of Venus are above breakdown values and that, consequently, visible transient glows (similar to terrestrial Halos produced by lightning) right above the parent IC lightning are predicted. The transient optical emissions result from radiative deexcitation of excited electronic states of N2 (in the ultraviolet, visible and near‐infrared ranges) and of O(1S) and of O(1D) in, respectively, the green (557 nm) and red (630 nm) wavelengths. The predicted transient lightning‐induced glows from O(1S) can reach an intensity higher than 167 R and, consequently, be above the detection threshold of the Lightning and Airglow Camera instrument aboard the Japanese Akatsuki probe orbiting Venus since December 2015. However, according to our model, successful observations of transient lightning‐induced optical glows could only be possible for sufficiently close (300 km or maximum 1000 km) distances.

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“…Some previous works investigated the effect of quasi‐electrostatic fields in the atmopsheres of Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn [ Dubrovin et al , , ; Pérez‐Invernón et al , ], estimating optical emissions produced in the upper atmospheres of these planets. However, no previous works have investigated the effect of hypothetical lightning‐emitted electromagnetic pulses (EMP) on the Venus atmosphere.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three‐dimensional modeling of lightning‐induced electromagnetic pulses on Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn

2017

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While lightning activity in Venus is still controversial, its existence in Jupiter and Saturn was first detected by the Voyager missions and later on confirmed by Cassini and New Horizons optical recordings in the case of Jupiter, and recently by Cassini on Saturn in 2009. Based on a recently developed 3‐D model, we investigate the influence of lightning‐emitted electromagnetic pulses on the upper atmosphere of Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter. We explore how different lightning properties such as total energy released and orientation (vertical, horizontal, and oblique) can produce mesospheric transient optical emissions of different shapes, sizes, and intensities. Moreover, we show that the relatively strong background magnetic field of Saturn can enhance the lightning‐induced quasi‐electrostatic and inductive electric field components above 1000 km of altitude producing stronger transient optical emissions that could be detected from orbital probes.

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Impact of lightning on the lower ionosphere of Saturn and possible generation of halos and sprites

Cited by 19 publications

References 49 publications

A Chemical Kinetics Network for Lightning and Life in Planetary Atmospheres

A Chemical Kinetics Network for Lightning and Life in Planetary Atmospheres

Mesospheric optical signatures of possible lightning on Venus

Three‐dimensional modeling of lightning‐induced electromagnetic pulses on Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn

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