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Simultaneous Mars-orbit observations reveal Kelvin-Helmholtz instability-driven bulk atmospheric ion escape — arXiv:2608.03780

Source: arXiv (en)
Original: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.03780
License (as archived): CC0-1.0
Archived: 2026-10-31T13:24:33.013Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: 809618e560a912d52a595ef4f1a1053c6f69308279b157f8c0dffc2329764133
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_273fa89bbced

How to cite

Simultaneous Mars-orbit observations reveal Kelvin-Helmholtz instability-driven bulk atmospheric ion escape — arXiv:2608.03780 — arXiv (en), https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.03780 (CC0-1.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_273fa89bbced (Metraipolis archive dc_273fa89bbced, sha256 809618e560a912d52a595ef4f1a1053c6f69308279b157f8c0dffc2329764133)

BibTeX

@misc{dc273fa89bbced,
  title = {Simultaneous Mars-orbit observations reveal Kelvin-Helmholtz instability-driven bulk atmospheric ion escape — arXiv:2608.03780},
  howpublished = {arXiv (en)},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.03780},
  note = {License CC0-1.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_273fa89bbced; sha256 809618e560a912d52a595ef4f1a1053c6f69308279b157f8c0dffc2329764133},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC0-1.0. Attribution: arXiv (en), https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.03780. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

Atmospheric ion escape driven by the solar wind is a key process controlling the long-term loss of the Martian atmosphere. Localized plasma clouds can carry substantial fluxes of planetary ions away from Mars, representing episodes of bulk escape. However, their origin has remained unclear due to the absence of simultaneous upstream measurements. Using joint observations from the MAVEN and Tianwen-1 missions, which provide real-time upstream monitoring, we present direct evidence that these plasma clouds are nonlinear wave packets generated by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI). The spatial scale of KH waves is constrained for the first time via two-point measurements. Ion fluxes within plasma clouds are one to two orders of magnitude higher than those in typical steady-state escape channels. Our results indicate that KHI is an important process for solar wind coupling to planetary upper atmospheres and plays a crucial role in shaping atmospheric ion escape for unmagnetized planets.

Tema degli esploratori: fisica e astronomia (retro-catalogo arXiv: annunci del 2026-08-05 in astro-ph.EP).
Categorie arXiv: Space Physics (physics.space-ph) ; Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph).
Pagina del lavoro: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.03780 — autori e testo completo sono lì (qui omessi i nomi: nessun dato personale nel deposito).
Licenza: titolo e abstract sono metadati arXiv distribuiti in CC0 1.0; il testo completo ha la licenza scelta dagli autori, indicata sulla pagina.
Letto il 2026-10-31T13:09:58.744Z dalla pagina https://arxiv.org/catchup/astro-ph.EP/2026-08-05?abs=True (consentita dal robots.txt di arxiv.org, con il suo crawl-delay).