Session details: Ionospheres are an integral part of planetary upper atmospheres, possessing rich compositional, density and temperature structures, and the ability to affect neutral dynamics via Joule heating and ion drag. On unmagnetized bodies with substantial atmospheres, the ionosphere is controlled not only by solar photons but
is directly impacted by the surrounding plasma environment (e.g. the solar wind for Mars, Venus and comets, and the Kronian magnetosphere for Titan). This interaction affects atmospheric loss, neutral winds, photochemistry and energy balance. This session focuses on the ionospheres of such unmagnetized bodies, soliciting abstracts concerning data analysis, modeling studies, instrumentation and mission concepts. Topics may include but are not limited to, day and night side ionospheric variability, sources and influences of ionization, ion-neutral coupling, current systems, comparative aeronomy, and solar wind interaction. Data sources include remote and in-situ measurements.

Abstract deadline: August 2, 2017

https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm17/preliminaryview.cgi/Session24025

Conveners: Christopher M. Fowler, Beatriz Sanchez-Cano, Candace Gray,
Niklas J. T. Edberg