The PI will use data from the Venus Express and Pioneer Venus spacecraft, and existing moodels of Mars in order to constrain models of Venus' ionosphere. He will focus on modeling major transitions of the dominant ion composition and electron temperature that have measured as a function of change in altitude.
The work will be useful to better explaining how ionospheres are formed and maintained. An ionosphere is the uppermost part of a planet's atmosphere where most of the atoms and molecules are ionized by photons from the Sun, and thus it has properties of both a gas and plasma. This research has broader impacts to modeling all terrestrial ionospheres, including those of planets around other stars. The research team will include the participation of a graduate student, undergraduate students and high school students.
