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The sheath/ionosphere boundary layer at VenusAt Venus the interaction of the shocked solar wind and cold planetary ions takes place in the dayside mantle. The shocked solar wind is a warm, drifting Maxwellian plasma whereas the planetary plasma is cold; the plasma in the mantle is strongly magnetized. The coexistence of these two populations is unstable, and it leads to wave excitations that organize the energy and momentum exchange between the shocked solar wind and the plasma of planetary origin. The source of the free energy is the solar wind. The intensive wave activity seen in the 100 Hz channel of the wave instrument onboard the Pioneer-Venus Orbiter in the dayside mantle region of Venus can be identified as almost electrostatic VLF waves excited by the kinetic branch of the modified two-stream lower hybrid instability. The waves interact with the particles, and the planetary plasma is heated and accelerated outside the ionosphere, close to its upper boundary. This way solar wind scavenges the ionosphere, and planetary ions leave the planetary magnetosphere. A portion of the wave energy is capable of penetrating directly into the ionosphere and heating it.
Document ID
19950055844
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Szego, K.
(KFKI Research Institute Budapest, Hungary)
Shapiro, V. D.
(California Space Institute, La Jolla, CA US, United States)
Ride, S. K.
(California Space Institute, La Jolla, CA US, United States)
Nagy, A. F.
(California Space Institute, La Jolla, CA US, United States)
Shevchenko, V. I.
(University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI US, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
August 1, 1995
Publication Information
Publication: Advances in Space Research
Volume: 16
Issue: 4
ISSN: 0273-1177
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
95A87443
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-2533
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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