The classical description of planetary coronae - that region of the atmosphere wherein the fluid flow problem transitions from a collisional to a non-collisional medium - was established by J.W. Chamberlain in 1963. That solution of the non-collisional Boltzmann equation stands as a seminal achievement in the history of Aeronomy, describing the escape of light gases from planetary atmospheres and by direct extension providing a framework by which the evolution of planetary atmospheres could be analytically quantified. This project expands that analytical treatment from a two-body (planet, atom) formalism to a three-body (planet, satellite, atom) formalism. That expansion promises the first realistic description of satellite atmosphere structure and evolution (there are 11 such atmospheres identified in our solar system), as well as a fundamental improvement in the analytical model of the Earth exosphere, since that corona is properly the manifestation of the Sun-Earth-atom three-body problem.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS)
Application #
0623327
Program Officer
Farzad Kamalabadi
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2006-11-15
Budget End
2009-04-30
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2006
Total Cost
$129,386
Indirect Cost
Name
Atmospheric and Environmental Research Inc
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Lexington
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02421