Volatile inventories of the terrestrial planets

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Abstract
The past few years have seen continuing application of classical theories of thermal and nonthermal atmospheric escape to problems involving the compositional and isotopic evolution of planetary volatile reservoirs. A new emphasis on a previously underappreciated thermal process, hydrodynamic escape, has appeared in interpretations of hydrogen and noble gas fractionation patterns in terrestrial planet atmospheres. Other mechanisms for loss of atmospheric mass, notably by impact‐induced erosion at various scales, have been discussed and roughly modeled. Direct spacecraft exploration of Halley's Comet in 1986 has rekindled interest in cometary matter as a possible early source of planetary volatiles, particularly for Venus.