Modeling the isotopic and elemental abundance of the bulk silicate Moon represent major challenges. Similarities in the non-mass dependent isotopic composition of refractory elements with the bulk silicate Earth suggest that both the Earth and the Moon formed from the same material reservoir. On the other hand, the Moon's volatile depletion and isotopic composition of moderately volatile elements points to a global devolatilization processes, most likely during a magma ocean phase of the Moon. Here, we investigate the devolatilization of the molten Moon due to a tidally-assisted hydrodynamic escape, first proposed by Charnoz et al. (2021), with a focus on the dynamics of the evaporated gas. Unlike the 1D steady-state approach of Charnoz et al. (2021), we use 2D time-dependent hydrodynamic simulations carried out with the FARGOCA code modified to take into account the magma ocean as a gas source. Near the Earth's Roche limit, where the proto-Moon likely formed, evaporated gases from the lunar magma ocean form a circum-Earth disk of volatiles, with less than 30% of material being reaccreted by the Moon. We find that the measured depletion of K and Na on the Moon can be achieved if the lunar magma-ocean had a surface temperature of about 1800-2000 K. After about 1000 years, a thermal boundary layer or a flotation crust forms a lid that inhibits volatile escape. Mapping the volatile velocity field reveals varying trends in the longitudes of volatile reaccretion on the Moon's surface: material is predominantly re-accreted on the trailing side when the Moon-Earth distance exceeds 3.5 Earth radii. For k2/Q values of 0.0003 and 0.03, 60% and more than 99% of the volatile material, respectively, is re-accreted on the trailing side, suggesting a dichotomy in volatile abundances between the leading and trailing sides of the Moon. This dichotomy may provide insights on the tidal conditions of the early molten Earth. In conclusion, tidally-driven atmospheric escape effectively devolatilizes the Moon, matching the measured abundances of Na and K on timescales compatible with the formation of a thermal boundary layer or an anorthite flotation crust.
Particle-particle and particle-gas processes significantly impact planetary precursors such as dust aggregates and planetesimals. We investigate gas permeability (kappa) in 12 granular samples, mimicking planetesimal dust regoliths. Using parabolic flights, this study assesses how gravitational compression - and lack thereof - influences gas permeation, impacting the equilibrium state of low-gravity objects. Transitioning between micro- and hyper-gravity induces granular sedimentation dynamics, revealing collective dust-grain aerodynamics. Our experiments measure kappa across Knudsen number (Kn) ranges, reflecting transitional flow. Using mass and momentum conservation, we derive kappa and calculate pressure gradients within the granular matrix. Key findings: (i) As confinement pressure increases with gravitational load and mass flow, kappa and average pore space decrease. This implies that a planetesimal's unique dust-compaction history limits subsurface volatile outflows. (ii) The derived pressure gradient enables tensile strength determination for asteroid regolith simulants with cohesion. This offers a unique approach to studying dust-layer properties when suspended in confinement pressures comparable to the equilibrium state on planetesimals surfaces, which will be valuable for modelling their collisional evolution. (iii) We observe a dynamical flow symmetry breaking when granular material moves against the pressure gradient. This occurs even at low Reynolds numbers, suggesting that Stokes numbers for drifting dust aggregates near the Stokes-Epstein transition require a drag force modification based on permeability.
Among the essential tools to address global environmental information requirements are the Earth-Observing (EO) satellites with free and open data access. This paper reviews those EO satellites from international space programs that already, or will in the next decade or so, provide essential data of importance to the environmental sciences that describe Earth's status. We summarize factors distinguishing those pioneering satellites placed in space over the past half century, and their links to modern ones, and the changing priorities for spaceborne instruments and platforms. We illustrate the broad sweep of instrument technologies useful for observing different aspects of the physio-biological aspects of the Earth's surface, spanning wavelengths from the UV-A at 380 nanometers to microwave and radar out to 1 m. We provide a background on the technical specifications of each mission and its primary instrument(s), the types of data collected, and examples of applications that illustrate these observations. We provide websites for additional mission details of each instrument, the history or context behind their measurements, and additional details about their instrument design, specifications, and measurements.
Context. The solar wind impinging on the lunar surface results in the emission of energetic neutral atoms. This particle population is one of the sources of the lunar exosphere. Aims. We present a semi-empirical model to describe the energy spectra of the neutral emitted atoms. Methods. We used data from the Advanced Small Analyzer for Neutrals (ASAN) on board the Yutu-2 rover of the Chang'E-4 mission to calculate high-resolution average energy spectra of the energetic neutral hydrogen flux from the surface. We then constructed a semi-empirical model to describe these spectra. Results. Excellent agreement between the model and the observed energetic neutral hydrogen data was achieved. The model is also suitable for describing heavier neutral species emitted from the surface. Conclusions. A semi-analytical model describing the energy spectrum of energetic neutral atoms emitted from the lunar surface has been developed and validated by data obtained from the lunar surface.
Following spacecraft encounters with comets 67P/C-G and 1P/Halley, it was surprising that O2, expected to be a very minor species in their comas, was observed to outgas at a few percent abundance during their ice sublimation phases. This challenged the direct connection suggested between comets and material in the interstellar medium (ISM), which exhibits a very low O2/H2O gas-phase abundance, leading to a number of papers suggesting novel sources for O2. Since these eccentrically orbiting comets have lost significant amounts of their evaporating surfaces over their lifetimes, the O2 observed must have been stably trapped down to significant depths in these primordial icy bodies. O2 was also seen in the coma by Rosetta, along with other volatiles, long after water ice sublimation began to subside. Here we note that the extensive observations of the icy satellites of Jupiter (Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto) exhibit radiolytic and outgassing processes that provide certain direct parallels to interpretations of recent comet observations. Given that O2 is consistently observed in the atmospheres of icy Jovian satellites, as well as stably trapped as 'bubbles' (Johnson and Jesser, 1997) in their water ice surfaces, their spectral observations can help constrain the environment in which Jupiter-family and Oort cloud comets formed given that the observed O2/H2O abundances at both types of comets and icy moons are nearly identical. Based on the approximate charged particle radiation required to produce the observed steady-state concentrations of O2, we suggest that comets likely formed in a far more energetic environment than the ISM. While grains can be irradiated for longer timescales in the neutral ISM, small grains are expected to erode before significant O2 formation and trapping occurs. Independent of celestial dynamics then, an unknown radiation source, may provide insight to the first population of oxidized water ice grains in the early solar system.
Saturn's large and diffuse E ring is populated by microscopic water ice dust particles, which originate from the Enceladus plume. Cassini's Cosmic Dust Analyser sampled these ice grains, revealing three compositional particle types with different concentrations of salts and organics. Here, we present the analysis of CDA mass spectra from several orbital periods of Cassini, covering the region from interior to Enceladus' orbit to outside the orbit of Rhea, to map the distribution of the different particle types throughout the radial extent of the E ring. This will provide a better understanding of the potential impact of space weathering effects on to these particles, as the ice grains experience an increasing exposure age during their radially outward migration. In this context, we report the discovery of a new ice particle type (Type 5), which produces spectra indicative of very high salt concentrations, and which we suggest to evolve from less-salty Enceladean ice grains by space weathering. The radial compositional profile, now encompassing four particle types, reveals distinct radial variations in the E ring. At the orbital distance of Enceladus our results are in good agreement with earlier compositional analyses of E ring ice grains in the moon's vicinity. With increasing radial distance to Saturn however, our analysis suggests a growing degree of space weathering and considerable changes to the spatial distribution of the particle types. We also find that the proportion of Type 5 grains - peaking near Rhea's orbit - probably reflects particle charging processes in the E ring.
A latitudinal and radial study of the lunar sodium exosphere has been performed utilizing observations made from two different methods: (1) observations made at targeted altitudes using a Fabry-Perot Spectrometer (FPS) and (2) observations made from a coronagraph. The FPS observations made from the National Solar Observatory McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, Kitt Peak, Arizona and the coronagraph observations were made at the Winer Observatory, Sonoita, Arizona. A small subset of the high resolution FPS observations were made concurrently with coronagraph measurements. Measured linewidths and linewidth-derived temperatures from FPS observa-tions were compared to temperatures derived from the coronagraphic intensity altitude profiles, with FPS linewidth-derived temperatures shown to be consistently lower. We suggest that the coronagraph method samples a velocity distribution perpendicular to the FPS's LOS, while the FPS samples a velocity distribution tangential to the lunar limb (i.e., along the FPS LOS). We also suggest that the coronagraph measurements may be more sensitive to the escaping population of atoms as the population close to the surface is not observed. The concurrent FPS measurements sit below the occulting disk of the coronagraph and measure the atoms closer to the surface. Furthermore, both the FPS linewidth-derived temperatures and the coronagraph scale heights show an increase towards high latitudes, an effect which is attributed to particle transport and/or contributions from a source like meteoroid impact vaporization. FPS linewidths decrease as a function of altitude, a result confirmed through a simulation of velocity distributions from nonthermal source mechanisms. And, finally, Linewidths are largest when looking over the dawn/dusk terminator. These results will enable improved characterization of the sources for the lunar sodium exosphere.
We present a combined reflectance and thermal radiance model for airless planetary bodies. The Hapke model provides the reflected component. The developed thermal model is the first to consistently use rough fractal surfaces, self-scattering, self-heating, and diskresolved bolometric albedo for entire planets. We validated the model with disk-resolved lunar measurements acquired by the Chinese weather satellite Gaofen-4 at around 3.5-4.1 mu m and measurements of the Diviner lunar radiometer at 8.25 mu m and 25-41 mu m, finding nearly exact agreement. Further, we reprocessed the thermal correction of the global lunar reflectance maps obtained by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper M3 and employed the new model to correct excess thermal radiance. The results confirm the diurnal, latitudinal, and compositional variations of lunar hydration reported in previous and recent studies with other instruments. Further, we compared the model to lunar measurements obtained by the Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS) on board BepiColombo during a flyby maneuver on April 9, 2020: the measured and the modeled radiance variations across the disk match. Finally, we adapted the thermal model to Mercury for emissivity calibration of upcoming Mercury flyby measurements and in-orbit operation. Although a physical parameter must be invariant under various observation scenarios, the best lunar surface roughness fits vary between different datasets. We critically discuss possible reasons and conclude that anisotropic emissivity modeling has room for improvement and requires attention in future studies.
The Karakoram Anomaly has been intensively investigated, but the factors that control this anomaly, such as the glacier velocity, topography, and mass balance, remain poorly understood. To improve our understanding of the velocity, topography, and mass balance of the Karakoram Glacier, in this study, the spatiotemporal variability of four glacier velocities in the Hunza Basin of the Karakoram range were surveyed using co-registration of optically sensed images and correlation (COSI-Corr) on Landsat imagery from 1993-2019. The results show that the velocity of the Gulmit Glacier increases with a rising altitude from the glacier terminal. The three other glaciers initially display high velocity, followed by a decrease from the glacier terminal, with the maximum velocity attained in the middle of the glacier. In addition, the Karakoram glaciers produced a slight mass gain, with all mountain glaciers exhibiting clear regional acceleration from 1993-2019. The ice deformation velocity of the Batura Glacier diminished at an average rate of 8.49 %. However, the topography of the glacier base and physical factors require further analysis to determine their contribution to the observed changes in glacier velocity. In the present work, multi-temporal remote sensing image interpretations were carried out to determine glacier kinematics, which could enhance our understanding of glacier change mechanisms.
Surface-bound exospheres facilitate volatile migration across the surfaces of nearly airless bodies. However, such transport requires that the body can both form and retain an exosphere. To form a sublimation exosphere requires the surface of a body to be sufficiently warm for surface volatiles to sublime; to retain an exosphere, the ballistic escape and photodestruction rates and other loss mechanisms must be sufficiently low. Here we construct a simple free molecular model of exospheres formed by volatile desorption or sublimation. We consider the conditions for forming and retaining exospheres for common volatile species across the Solar System, and explore how three processes (desorption/sublimation, ballistic loss, and photodestruction) shape exospheric dynamics on airless bodies. Our model finds that the CO2 exosphere of Callisto is much too dense to be sustained by impact-delivered volatiles, but could be maintained by only-7 ha (-0.07 km(2)) of exposed CO2 ice distributed across Callisto (and refreshed through mass wasting). We use our model to predict the peak surface locations of Callisto's CO2 exosphere along with other Galilean moons, which could be tested by JUICE observations. Our model finds that to maintain Iapetus' two-tone appearance, its dark Cassini Regio likely has unresolved exposures of water ice, perhaps in sub-resolution impact craters, that amount to up to approximately-0.06% of its surface. In the Uranian system, we find that the CO2 deposits on Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon are unlikely to have been delivered via impacts, but are consistent with both a magnetospheric origin, (as has been previously suggested) or sourced endogenously. We suggest that the leading/trailing CO2 asymmetries on these moons could result from exosphere-mediated volatile transport, and may be a seasonal equinox feature that could be largely erased by pole-to-pole volatile migration during the Uranian solstices. We calculate that-2.4-6.4 mm thick layer of CO2 (depending the moon) could migrate about the surface of Uranus' large moons during a seasonal cycle. Our model also confirms that water migration to Mercury's polar cold traps is inefficient without self-shield against photodestroying UV light, and that Callisto's bright spires could be formed/maintained by exospherically deposited H2O.