Lunar Models of Surface Hydroxylation and the Degassed H2 Exosphere during Solar Storm
Abstract
One task of the Lunar Environmental and Dynamics for Exploration Research (LEADER) science team is focused on investigating how solar wind implantation ions hydroxylate the lunar surface and contribute to the inventory of degassed hydrogenated molecules (H2O, H2 and CH4) of the exosphere. Hydroxylation experiments are underway to quantifying implantation, OH production and OH/H diffusive rates (McLain et al., 2021). Likewise, Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations are underway to characterize diffusion and chemical production of hydrogenated molecules within regolith grains at the atomic level (Morrissey et al., 2022). These studies inform/constrain global models of the solar wind driven hydrogen cycle (Farrell et al., 2017; Tucker et al., 2019). To this end, such models calculate the abundance of volatiles in the lunar environment from first principles to compare with observations to evaluate theoretical concepts. In this presentation, we will report on the dynamical response of surficial OH content and the H2 exosphere during a Coronal Mass Ejection event, for which the plasma mass flux can be larger than a factor of 20 than nominal solar wind (e.g., Farrell et al., 2012; Killen et al., 2012).
Farrell, W. M., et al. (2012). JGR: Planets, 117(E10). https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JE004070 Farrell, W. M., et al. (2017). JGR: Planets, 122(1), 269–289. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JE005168 Killen, R. M., et al. (2012). JGR E: Planets, 117(3), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JE004011 McLain, J. L., et al. (2021). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JE006845 Morrissey, L. S., et al. (2022). Icarus, 379, 114979. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ICARUS.2022.114979 Tucker, O. J., et al. (2019). JGR: Planets, 124(2). https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JE005805- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022AGUFMSM55B1449T