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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

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  • Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: Interactions with solar wind plasma and fields

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 13, NO. 8, PP. 865-868, 1986
doi:10.1029/GL013i008p00865

Rapid pickup of cometary ions due to strong magnetic turbulence

C. S. Wu

Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

D. Winske

Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545

J. D. Gaffrey Jr.

Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

Magnetic turbulence observed with the ICE spacecraft near Giacobini‐Zinner indicates that the energy density of the fluctuating field is higher than the thermal energy density of the solar wind plasma. We show that in the presence of such strong turbulence the newly created ions are assimilated into the solar wind very rapidly. The time scale for the assimilation process is estimated and shown to be on the order of 100 sec which is consistent with the ICE results for the H2O+ cometary ions.

Received 29 May 1986; accepted 13 June 1986; .

Citation: Wu, C. S., D. Winske, and J. D. Gaffrey Jr. (1986), Rapid pickup of cometary ions due to strong magnetic turbulence, Geophys. Res. Lett., 13(8), 865–868, doi:10.1029/GL013i008p00865.

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