On Atmospheric Loss of Oxygen Ions from Earth Through Magnetospheric Processes
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- K. Seki
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
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- R. C. Elphic
- NIS-1, MS D466, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA.
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- M. Hirahara
- Department of Physics, Rikkyo University, Toshima, Tokyo 171-8501, Japan.
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- T. Terasawa
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
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- T. Mukai
- Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8510, Japan.
書誌事項
- 公開日
- 2001-03-09
- DOI
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- 10.1126/science.1058913
- 公開者
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
この論文をさがす
説明
<jats:p> In Earth's environment, the observed polar outflow rate for O <jats:sup>+</jats:sup> ions, the main source of oxygen above gravitational escape energy, corresponds to the loss of ∼18% of the present-day atmospheric oxygen over 3 billion years. However, part of this apparent loss can actually be returned to the atmosphere. Examining loss rates of four escape routes with high-altitude spacecraft observations, we show that the total oxygen loss rate inferred from current knowledge is about one order of magnitude smaller than the polar O <jats:sup>+</jats:sup> outflow rate. This disagreement suggests that there may be a substantial return flux from the magnetosphere to the low-latitude ionosphere. Then the net oxygen loss over 3 billion years drops to ∼2% of the current atmospheric oxygen content. </jats:p>
収録刊行物
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- Science
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Science 291 (5510), 1939-1941, 2001-03-09
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
