Study of the Martian cold oxygen corona from the O I 130.4 nm by IUVS/MAVEN

Jean-Yves Chaufray (1) , Justin Deighan (2) , Michael S. Chaffin (2) , Nick M. Schneider (2) , William E. Mcclintock (2) , A. Ian F. Stewart (2) , Sonal K. Jain (2) , Matteo Crismani (2) , Arnaud Stiepen (2) , Greg M. Holsclaw (2) , John T. Clarke (3) , Franck Montmessin (1) , F. G. Eparvier (2) , E. M. B. Thiemann (2) , Phillip C. Chamberlin (4) , Bruce M. Jakosky (2)

1 PLANETO - LATMOS
2 LASP - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics [Boulder]
3 CSP - Center for Space Physics [Boston]
4 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

First observations of the O I 130.4 nm resonant line performed by the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) aboard the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission (MAVEN) are presented in this paper. This emission line is observed during the different orbit phases of MAVEN. The atomic oxygen density and the temperature at 200 km are retrieved from an automatic pipeline using a radiative transfer model for resonant scattering lines for a selection of coronal profiles. These selected profiles are representative of the coronal scans done during the first months of the mission (from November 2014 to January 2015). The derived oxygen density and the temperature near the exobase are in the predicted range by the current thermospheric models of Mars for moderate solar activity, and some diurnal variations are observed. However, the absolute calibration of the instrument significantly limits the accuracy of density and temperature results.

Keywords: oxygen; exosphere; Mars

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Astrophysics [astro-ph]; Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]; Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Astrophysics [astro-ph]; Solar and Stellar Astrophysics [astro-ph.SR]

Jean-Yves Chaufray, Justin Deighan, Michael S. Chaffin, Nick M. Schneider, William E. Mcclintock, et al.. Study of the Martian cold oxygen corona from the O I 130.4 nm by IUVS/MAVEN. Geophysical Research Letters, 2015, 42 (21), pp.9031-9039. ⟨10.1002/2015GL065341⟩. ⟨insu-01238292⟩