Surface discharges on natural dielectrics in the solar system

Evidence for dielectric breakdown weathering on the Moon

Soil on the Moon is darkened by space weathering, a process generally assumed to be dominated by the solar wind and/or micrometeoroid impacts. Recent work, however, predicts that another process darkens the soil: large solar energetic particle events may cause dielectric breakdown (or "sparking"), melting and vaporizing soil at a rate comparable to that of micrometeoroids. Unlike the solar wind and/or micrometeoroids, a combination of dielectric breakdown and micrometeoroid weathering can explain how the reflectance of the lunar maria varies with latitude at 750 and 1064 nm, and this combination provides a reasonable mechanism to explain how magnetic anomalies form prominent swirls in the maria. Consequently, space weathering in the lunar maria seems to be dominated by micrometeoroid impacts and dielectric breakdown.