Atmospheric escape and evolution of terrestrial planets and satellites

Helmut Lammer, James F. Kasting, Eric Chassefière, Robert E. Johnson, Yuri N. Kulikov, Feng Tian

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

218 Scopus citations

Abstract

The origin and evolution of Venus', Earth's, Mars' and Titan's atmospheres are discussed from the time when the active young Sun arrived at the Zero-Age-Main-Sequence. We show that the high EUV flux of the young Sun, depending on the thermospheric composition, the amount of IR-coolers and the mass and size of the planet, could have been responsible that hydrostatic equilibrium was not always maintained and hydrodynamic flow and expansion of the upper atmosphere resulting in adiabatic cooling of the exobase temperature could develop. Furthermore, thermal and various nonthermal atmospheric escape processes influenced the evolution and isotope fractionation of the atmospheres and water inventories of the terrestrial planets and Saturn's large satellite Titan efficiently.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)399-436
Number of pages38
JournalSpace Science Reviews
Volume139
Issue number1-4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2008

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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