A New In Situ Quasi-continuous Solar-wind Source of Molecular Water on Mercury - Data Files

Jones, Brant M.; Sarantos, Menelaos; Orlando, Thomas M.

Title:

A New In Situ Quasi-continuous Solar-wind Source of Molecular Water on Mercury - Data Files

dc.contributor.author	Jones, Brant M.
dc.contributor.author	Sarantos, Menelaos
dc.contributor.author	Orlando, Thomas M.
dc.contributor.corporatename	Georgia Institute of Technology. School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
dc.date.accessioned	2019-12-09T18:51:57Z
dc.date.available	2019-12-09T18:51:57Z
dc.date.issued	2020
dc.description	Data file names correspond to figures in the manuscript: B.M. Jones et al. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 2020 891 (2) DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab6bda	en_US
dc.description.abstract	Radar observations of Mercury and the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft data indicate the probable existence of water ice in the permanently shadowed polar regions. Generally, water is accepted to be of exogenous origin through delivery via comets and meteoritic impact. However, a continuous water formation process that involves thermal transformation of chemically stable mineral-bound hydroxyl groups produced by implanted solar wind protons is readily available on the surface of Mercury. At typical temperatures prevailing on Mercury’s dayside surface, H2O can be produced from reactions involving OH groups on or within the H-saturated regolith grain interfaces. Similar reactions will also occur due to micrometeorite impact events on both the day and nightside. Once produced, H2O is released into the exosphere and then transported and processed via Jeans escape, photodissociation, dissociative adsorption, or condensation. Water reaching cold traps will be bound over geological periods. This simple water cycle will produce a highly chemically reduced surface and can contribute significant amounts of H2O over geological time periods. The overall process is an important but hitherto unnoticed source term that will contribute to the accumulation of water in the permanently shadowed regions of Mercury.	en_US
dc.description.sponsorship	NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) NNA17BF68A	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1853/62094
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.publisher	Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.relation.issupplementto	https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab6bda
dc.title	A New In Situ Quasi-continuous Solar-wind Source of Molecular Water on Mercury - Data Files	en_US
dc.type	Dataset	en_US
dspace.entity.type	Publication
local.contributor.author	Orlando, Thomas M.
local.contributor.corporatename	School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
local.contributor.corporatename	College of Sciences
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