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Cited by 97Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamicsStellar, planetary, and galactic studiesAstro and Planetary Science

Upper atmospheres of terrestrial planets: carbon dioxide cooling and the Earth's thermospheric evolution

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Johnstone, C. P., Güdel, M., Lammer, H., Kislyakova, K. G.·2018·Astronomy & Astrophysics
DOI 10.1051/0004-6361/201832776
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Abstract

Context.The thermal and chemical structures of the upper atmospheres of planets crucially influence losses to space and must be understood to constrain the effects of losses on atmospheric evolution. Aims.We develop a 1D first-principles hydrodynamic atmosphere model that calculates atmospheric thermal and chemical structures for arbitrary planetary parameters, chemical compositions, and stellar inputs. We apply the model to study the reaction of the Earth’s upper atmosphere to large changes in the CO2abundance and to changes in the input solar XUV field due to the Sun’s activity evolution from 3 Gyr in the past to 2.5 Gyr in the future. Methods.For the thermal atmosphere structure, we considered heating from the absorption of stellar X-ray, UV, and IR radiation, heating from exothermic chemical reactions, electron heating from collisions with non-thermal photoelectrons, Joule heating, cooling from IR emission by several species, thermal conduction, and energy exchanges between the neutral, ion, and electron gases. For the chemical structure, we considered ~500 chemical reactions, including 56 photoreactions, eddy and molecular diffusion, and advection. In addition, we calculated the atmospheric structure by solving the hydrodynamic equations. To solve the equations in our model, we developed the Kompot code and have provided detailed descriptions of the numerical methods used in the appendices. Results.We verify our model by calculating the structures of the upper atmospheres of the modern Earth and Venus. By varying the CO2abundances at the lower boundary (65 km) of our Earth model, we show that the atmospheric thermal structure is significantly altered. Increasing the CO2abundances leads to massive reduction in thermospheric temperature, contraction of the atmosphere, and reductions in the ion densities indicating that CO2can significantly influence atmospheric erosion. Our models for the evolution of the Earth’s upper atmosphere indicate that the thermospheric structure has not changed significantly in the last 2 Gyr and is unlikely to change signficantly in the next few Gyr. The largest changes that we see take place between 3 and 2 Gyr ago, with even larger changes expected at even earlier times.

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  • For the Earth, a zenith angle of 66 degrees gives the best representation of the atmosphere averaged over all zenith angles.

    “and found that for the Earth an angle of θ = 66 ◦ gives the best representation of the atmosphere averaged over all zenith angles. We, therefore, also used θ = 66 ◦ within our current study.”

    From The young Sun's XUV-activity as a constraint for lower CO2-limits in the Earth's Archean atmosphere (2021) · cites this paper as Johnstone et al. 2018

    Section 2.3.1 says a 66° zenith angle gives a decent representation of the Earth's atmosphere averaged over all longitudes and latitudes; Section 3.1 calls it a good approximation to globally averaged profiles. Neither section says 66° is the best angle or describes an average over all zenith angles. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The model can successfully reproduce the upper atmospheric structures of modern Venus and Earth.

    “The model can successfully reproduce the upper atmospheric structures of modern Venus, and Earth (Johnstone et al. 2018).”

    From The young Sun's XUV-activity as a constraint for lower CO2-limits in the Earth's Archean atmosphere (2021) · cites this paper as Johnstone et al. 2018

  • The model's CO2 cooling makes no assumption about local thermodynamic equilibrium and can realistically calculate cooling rates for very different CO2 abundances, as seen from modern Earth and Venus calculations.

    “Our model for CO 2 cooling makes no assumption about local thermodynamic equilibrium and is able to realistically calculate the cooling rates for very different CO 2 abundances, as can be seen from our calculations of modern Earth and Venus (Johnstone et al. 2018).”

    From The young Sun's XUV-activity as a constraint for lower CO2-limits in the Earth's Archean atmosphere (2021) · cites this paper as Johnstone et al. 2018

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Authors
Johnstone, C. P., Güdel, M., Lammer, H., & Kislyakova, K. G.
Affiliations
  • University of Vienna (AT)
  • Austrian Academy of Sciences (AT)
ORCID
Güdel, M.
Venue
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Publisher
EDP Sciences
Published
2018-09
Volume
617
Pages
A107
ISSN
  • 0004-6361 (ISSN-L)
  • 1432-0746
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/201832776
OpenAlex
W2809145220
Cited by
97
References
91
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 5
FWCI
4.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.edpsciences.org/en/authors/copyright-and-licensing (vor, 25 d)
Locations
  • Astronomy and Astrophysics (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Funders
Austrian Science Fund (S11607‐N16, I2939, S11606-N16, S11604-N16, S11601-N16)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
Keywords
CO2 cooling, atmospheric erosion, Venus atmosphere, atmospheric temperature structure, Joule heating

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