Atmospheric escape rate and driven mechanisms at terrestrial planets

Principal Investigator: Prof. Cui Jun

Period：2021-2025

Project Description:

Atmospheric escape is one of the key elements controlling the evolution of habitability on Solar System bodies. Within this context, it is crucial to determine the neutral escape rates and the dominant escape mechanisms. This project is aimed at a systematic investigation of neutral atmospheric escape on Mars and Titan, as two important and extensively studied terrestrial bodies in the Solar System. Through the project, we will build a reliable database that describes properly the ambient atmospheric structure and external energy deposition, from which we are able to obtain the production rates of potentially escaping particles in the upper atmospheres of Mars and Titan. These will then be combined with an optimized parameterization of collisional processes to obtain the escape rates within the framework of Monte Carlo calculations. For each constituent involved, we will compare its escape rates driven by different mechanisms, from which the dominant mechanism could be identified and the variability in escape be explored. For Mars, we will focus on the role of the magnetic field configuration, whereas for Titan, we will focus on the variation of the satellite’s location within the Kronian magnetosphere. The unique feature of this project is to implement data-driven, time-dependent calculations within a three-dimensional background atmosphere. This project will improve our understandings of the impact of atmospheric escape on planetary environmental evolution.