HR: 0830h
AN: P51C-0459    [PDF]
TI: Electrical Discharges and Broadband Radio Emission by Martian Dust Devils and Dust Storms
AU: * Renno, N O
EM: nrenno@umich.edu
AF: Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, 2455 Hayward St. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
AU: Wong, A
EM: aswong@umich.edu
AF: Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, 2455 Hayward St. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
AU: Atreya, S K
EM: atreya@umich.edu
AF: Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, 2455 Hayward St. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
AU: de Pater, I
EM: imke@astron.Berkeley.EDU
AF: Department of Astronomy, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720
AU: Roos-Serote, M
EM: roos@oal.ul.pt
AF: Lisbon Astronomical Observatory, Tapada da Ajuda, Lisbon, 1349-018 Portugal
AB: Triboelectric charging of saltating and colliding sand and dust particles produces strong electric fields in terrestrial dust devils and dust storms. Acceleration of the charged particles, as well as microdischarges between them, generates wideband electromagnetic radiation that may be easily detected by properly designed radio receivers. Similar phenomena are expected to be ubiquitous on Mars, because Martian dust devils and dust storms are larger, stronger, dustier and more frequent than their terrestrial analogues, and electrical discharges occur at a much lower potential gradient in the thin Martian atmosphere. We present theoretical arguments and show observational evidence that Martian dust events produce nonthermal wideband electromagnetic radiation that is strong enough to be detected from Earth.
DE: 3304 Atmospheric electricity
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting