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Farrell et al. 2006
Farrell, W.M., Renno, N., Delory, G.T., Cummer, S.A. and Marshall, J.R. (2006). Integration of electrostatic and fluid dynamics within a dust devil. Journal of Geophysical Research 111. doi: 10.1029/2005JE002527. issn: 0148-0227.

In this study we derive an analytical expression to describe the electrostatic field in a dust cloud with grain trajectories defined by fluid dynamics and grain charging via contact electrification. In order to solve for the electric field, we merge the fluid dynamic--driven grain motion directly into the basic electrostatic formalism to end up with an electric field dependent on meteorological variables within the dust cloud. We find that the E field is driven by two processes: the currents associated with the charging grains and the increasing velocity difference of varying-sized grains at early times. The resulting processes give rise to an exponentially growing electric field, which for Mars applications, quickly approaches breakdown values. Variations in the growth of the electric field are found with varying grains sizes and varying ambient atmospheric conductivity.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Planetary Sciences, Solid Surface Planets, Atmospheres (0343, 1060), Planetary Sciences, Solid Surface Planets, Rings and dust, Planetary Sciences, Solid Surface Planets, Meteorology, Space Plasma Physics, Electrostatic structures, Electromagnetics, Electromagnetic theory, dust devil, electric fields, Mars
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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