Fig. 2: Orbital variations of species-total particle fluxes impinging on the lunar surface in the contemporary Earth’s magnetized case (Case−I). | Communications Earth & Environment

Fig. 2: Orbital variations of species-total particle fluxes impinging on the lunar surface in the contemporary Earth’s magnetized case (Case−I).

From: Terrestrial atmospheric ion implantation occurred in the nearside lunar regolith during the history of Earth’s dynamo

Fig. 2: Orbital variations of species-total particle fluxes impinging on the lunar surface in the contemporary Earth’s magnetized case (Case−I).

Angular distributions of the (a) planetary atmosphere number flux, (b) solar wind number flux, (c) total particle flux (aggregate flux of the terrestrial atmosphere and solar wind), and (d) fractional contribution of the planetary wind to the total flux over a full lunation. At phase angles −π and π rad, the Moon is in the dayside upstream solar wind along the sub-solar line of Earth. The double-horned structures in the flux profiles result from shocked material located between the magnetosheath and the magnetotail lobe. Both solar wind and Earth wind densities increase sharply near the magnetopause boundary (the shocked region), resulting in increased solar wind and planetary atmosphere fluxes in that region compared to those near the X-line in the magnetotail lobe (at a phase angle of 0 rad). The solar wind number flux is further reduced inside the magnetosphere due to limited mixing with the terrestrial component, compared to the level of mixing at the boundary.

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