On the Vertical Thermal Structure of Io's Atmosphere

Abstract

A radiative-thermal conduction model for the vertical thermal structure of Io's atmosphere is developed with solar heating by SO2 absorption in UV and near-IR bands and non-LTE cooling by SO2v1 , v2, v3, vibrational bands and rotational lines. The model predicts the existence of a mesopause in Io's atmosphere when the surface pressure exceeds ∼10 nbar. The radiative time constant for establishing a mesosphere/mesopause on Io is only ∼20 min, whereas the thermaspheric radiative time constant is about 1 hr. These time constants are significantly shorter than the diurnal time scale and competitive with dynamical time scales. In the thermosphere when solar UV heating dominates, the asymptotic thermospheric temperature is ∼270 K, only 140 K greater than the surface temperature because at high altitudes non-LTE cooling by SO2 rotation lines exceeds cooling in the v2 vibrational band. Solar-heating-only models are incapable of generating warm enough atmospheres to satisfy the observational inferences from UV and especially millimeter-wave measurements. Joule heating driven by the penetration of Jupiter's corotational electric field into Io's conducting ionosphere is demonstrated to be the dominant heating mechanism in the subnanobar regions of Io's atmosphere with temperatures ranging from 150 to 1000 K as a function of decreasing pressure from 1 to 0.1 nbar. The asymptotic thermaspheric temperature can attain a value as high as 1800 K.