Examining the exobase approximation: DSMC models of Titan’s upper atmosphere

Abstract:

Chamberlain (1963) developed the so-called exobase approximation for planetary atmospheres below which it is assumed that molecular collisions maintain thermal equilibrium and above which collisions are negligible. Here we present an examination of the exobase approximation applied in the DeLaHaye et al. (2007) study used to extract the energy deposition and non-thermal escape rates from Titan’s atmosphere using the INMS data for the TA and T5 Cassini encounters. In that study a Liouville theorem based approach is used to fit the density data for N₂ and CH₄ assuming an enhanced population of suprathermal molecules (E >> kT) was present at the exobase. The density data was fit in the altitude region of 1450 – 2000 km using a kappa energy distribution to characterize the non-thermal component. Here we again fit the data using the conventional kappa energy distribution function, and then use the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) technique (Bird 1994) to determine the effect of molecular collisions. The results for the fits are used to obtain improved fits compared to the results in DeLaHaye et al. (2007). In addition the collisional and collisionless DSMC results are compared to evaluate the validity of the assumed energy distribution function and the collisionless approximation. We find that differences between fitting procedures to the INMS data carried out within a scale height of the assumed exobase can result in the extraction of very different energy deposition and escape rates. DSMC simulations performed with and without collisions to test the Liouville theorem based approximation show that collisions affect the density and temperature profiles well above the exobase as well as the escape rate.

This research was supported by grant NNH12ZDA001N from the NASA ROSES OPR program. The computations were made with NAS computer resources at NASA Ames under GID 26135.