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The Martian upper atmosphere is known to vary diurnally and seasonally due to changing amounts of solar radiation. However, in the upper thermosphere and exosphere, the neutrals are also subject to ion precipitation. This can increase the temperature in the region of precipitation, resulting in density changes that might be seen in in situ data (Fang et al. 2013). Therefore, we examine neutral density data from the MAVEN Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) in Mars-Solar-Electric (MSE) coordinates, where location is determined by the direction of the solar wind convective electric field, resulting in a hemispherical asymmetry in the ion precipitation. By examining densities in MSE coordinates (Hara et al. 2013) we are able to look for a detectable effect in the region where ion precipitation is more likely. Using the NGIMS neutral data and Key Parameters in situ solar wind data from February 2015 to August 2017 we look for asymmetries by constructing average density maps in Mars-Solar-Orbital (MSO) and MSE coordinates near the exobase. The NGIMS densities for O, Ar, and CO2 from 180-220 km altitude for each orbit are averaged and then binned by location in MSO coordinates and transformed to MSE coordinates. The resulting MSE map exhibits a small density increase in the southern hemisphere, where one would expect to see enhanced precipitation. Although suggestive, the change is not statistically significant, so that the effect of ion precipitation, thought to be an important driver in the evolution of Mars' atmosphere remains elusive., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, 1 table

The detection of O2+ and O+ ions over Saturn's main rings by the Cassini INMS and CAPS instruments at Saturn orbit insertion (SOI) in 2004 confirmed the existence of the ring atmosphere and ionosphere. The source mechanism was suggested to be primarily photolytic decomposition of water ice producing neutral O2 and H2 (Johnson et al., 2006). Therefore, we predicted that there would be seasonal variations in the ring atmosphere and ionosphere due to the orientation of the ring plane to the sun (Tseng et al., 2010). The atoms and molecules scattered out of the ring atmosphere by ion-molecule collisions are an important source for the inner magnetosphere (Johnson et al., 2006; Martens et al. 2008; Tseng et al., 2010 and 2011). This source competes with water products from the Enceladus' plumes, which, although possibly variable, do not appear to have a seasonal variability (Smith et al., 2010). Recently, we found that the plasma density, composition and temperature in the region from 2.5 to 3.5 RS exhibited significant seasonal variation between 2004 and 2010 (Elrod et al., 2011). Here we present a one-box ion chemistry model to explain the complex and highly variable plasma environment observed by the CAPS instrument on Cassini. We combine the water products from Enceladus with the molecules scattered from a corrected ring atmosphere, in order to describe the temporal changes in ion densities, composition and temperature detected by CAPS. We found that the observed temporal variations are primarily seasonal, due to the predicted seasonal variation in the ring atmosphere, and are consistent with a compressed magnetosphere at SOI., Comment: This is submitted to P&SS

Understanding the evolution of the Martian atmosphere requires knowledge of processes transforming solar irradiance into thermal energy well enough to model them accurately. Here we compare Martian photoelectron energy spectra measured at periaps is by Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution MissioN (MAVEN) with calculations made using three photoelectron production codes and three solar irradiance models as well as modeled and measured CO2 densities. We restricted our comparisons to regions where the contribution from solar wind electrons and ions were negligible. The two intervals examined on 19 October 2014 have different observed incident solar irradiance spectra. In spite of the differences in photoionization cross sections and irradiance spectra used, we find the agreement between models to be within the combined uncertainties associated with the observations from the MAVEN neutral density, electron flux, and solar irradiance instruments.