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Anisotropic Solar Wind Sputtering of the Lunar Surface Induced by Crustal Magnetic AnomaliesThe lunar exosphere is generated by several processes each of which generates neutral distributions with different spatial and temporal variability. Solar wind sputtering of the lunar surface is a major process for many regolith-derived species and typically generates neutral distributions with a cosine dependence on solar zenith angle. Complicating this picture are remanent crustal magnetic anomalies on the lunar surface, which decelerate and partially reflect the solar wind before it strikes the surface. We use Kaguya maps of solar wind reflection efficiencies, Lunar Prospector maps of crustal field strengths, and published neutral sputtering yields to calculate anisotropic solar wind sputtering maps. We feed these maps to a Monte Carlo neutral exospheric model to explore three-dimensional exospheric anisotropies and find that significant anisotropies should be present in the neutral exosphere depending on selenographic location and solar wind conditions. Better understanding of solar wind/crustal anomaly interactions could potentially improve our results.
Document ID
20150010745
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Poppe, A. R.
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Sarantos, M.
(Maryland Univ. Baltimore County Baltimore, MD, United States)
Halekas, J. S.
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Delory, G. T.
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Saito, Y.
(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Tokyo, Japan)
Nishino, M.
(Nagoya Univ. Nagoya, Japan)
Date Acquired
June 15, 2015
Publication Date
July 22, 2014
Publication Information
Publication: Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher: American Geophysical Union Publications
Volume: 41
Issue: 14
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN22886
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX13AO74G
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG11PL02A
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX13AO71G
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
exosphere
lunar
spatial

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