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Encyclopedia of Astrobiology pp 1–2Cite as

Atmosphere Escape

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Definition

Atmospheric escape refers to the loss of a planet’s atmosphere to space. Broadly speaking, escape may be energy limited or diffusion limited. For the energy-limited case, permanently removing a molecule from a planet’s atmosphere can be compared to sending a rocket from Earth to space: one must impart enough velocity to the object, and in the right direction, to allow the object to overcome the potential energy at the bottom of the gravitational well and still have enough kinetic energy left over to allow the object to continue moving away. The study of atmospheric escape in this case thus amounts to the study of the various ways in which the necessary energy can be imparted to molecules to reach the escape velocity, which is the minimum velocity an object needs in order to escape to infinity, provided no drag forces intervene.

Overview

The thermal escape velocity is obtained by equating initial kinetic energy to the gravitational potential energy:

$$ 1/2\kern0.5em...

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References and Further Reading

  • Pierrehumbert RT (2010) Principles of planetary climate. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Ray Pierrehumbert

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  1. Ray Pierrehumbert
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Correspondence to Ray Pierrehumbert .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  2. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  3. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  6. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Pierrehumbert, R. (2014). Atmosphere Escape. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_128-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_128-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Atmospheric Processes, Escape
    Published:
    02 December 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_128-3

  2. Original

    Atmosphere Escape
    Published:
    30 April 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_128-2

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