FastFind »   Lastname: doi:10.1029/ Year: Advanced Search  

AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • Venus
  • ionosphere
  • meteors

Index Terms

  • Ionosphere: Planetary ionospheres
  • Ionosphere: Meteor-trail physics
  • Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Ionospheres

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 36, L05203, 5 PP., 2009
doi:10.1029/2008GL035875

A sporadic layer in the Venus lower ionosphere of meteoric origin

M. Pätzold

Rheinisches Institut für Umweltforschung, Abteilung Planetenforschung, Universität zu Köln, Cologne, Germany

S. Tellmann

Rheinisches Institut für Umweltforschung, Abteilung Planetenforschung, Universität zu Köln, Cologne, Germany

B. Häusler

Institut für Raumfahrttechnik, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Neubiberg, Germany

M. K. Bird

Argelander Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany

G. L. Tyler

Department for Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

A. A. Christou

Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh, UK

P. Withers

Center for Space Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

The Venus Express Radio Science (VeRa) experiment aboard Venus Express has detected, by means of radio occultation, distinct, low-lying layers of electron density below the base (115 km altitude) of the ionosphere of Venus. A plausible origin of these lowest layers is ionization by the influx of meteoroids into the atmosphere. The layers appeared only occasionally during the 2006 and 2007 Venus Express occultation seasons, could be identified only on the dayside and seem to be geographically localized as they usually occur in either the northern or southern hemisphere of the same orbit; they are detected at all latitudes, but only at solar zenith angles between 55° and 90°. Typical peak plasma densities of 1010 m−3 are reached between 110 and 120 km altitude. Peak meteor layer electron densities increase with decreasing solar zenith angle. Layer shapes are symmetric with respect to peak altitude. The present observational statistics and lack of dedicated models prevents definite statements to be made on the origin of the source meteoroids.

Received 1 September 2008; accepted 29 October 2008; published 12 March 2009.

Citation: Pätzold, M., S. Tellmann, B. Häusler, M. K. Bird, G. L. Tyler, A. A. Christou, and P. Withers (2009), A sporadic layer in the Venus lower ionosphere of meteoric origin, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L05203, doi:10.1029/2008GL035875.

Cited By

Please wait one moment ...