Planetary atmosphere observation analysis

Abstract:

We describe a stratospheric balloon mission that will make continuous observations of Venus over a period of several weeks during the January 2014 inferior conjunction. NASA's balloon program has historically supported Antarctic flights like this one in the eliophysics and Astrophysics Divisions. The proposed experiment consists of a one meter telescope, two imaging detectors operating from 0.35 to 2.55 ! m at the diffraction limit and 33 filters. This mission will address a number of questions regarding (a) Venus' super-rotation and general circulation, (b) the properties of Venus' clouds, (c) the distribution of trace species and the coupling between certain dynamical and chemical processes, (d) the existence and prevalence of lightning on Venus, and (e) the distribution of thermal emissivity anomalies on Venus' surface. We call this mission VSS (Venus StratoScope) to keep in mind the legacy of the Stratoscope and Stratoscope II balloon missions.

Abstract:

Observations of Neptune were made in September 2009 with the Gemini-North Telescope in Hawaii, using the NIFS instrument in the H-band covering the wavelength range 1.477-1.803 μm. Observations were acquired in adaptive optics mode and have a spatial resolution of approximately 0.15-0.25″. The observations were analysed with a multiple-scattering retrieval algorithm to determine the opacity of clouds at different levels in Neptune's atmosphere. We find that the observed spectra at all locations are very well fit with a model that has two thin cloud layers, one at a pressure level of ∼2. bar all over the planet and an upper cloud whose pressure level varies from 0.02 to 0.08. bar in the bright mid-latitude region at 20-40°S to as deep as 0.2. bar near the equator. The opacity of the upper cloud is found to vary greatly with position, but the opacity of the lower cloud deck appears remarkably uniform, except for localised bright spots near 60°S and a possible slight clearing near the equator. A limb-darkening analysis of the observations suggests that the single-scattering albedo of the upper cloud particles varies from ∼0.4 in regions of low overall albedo to close to 1.0 in bright regions, while the lower cloud is consistent with particles that have a single-scattering albedo of ∼0.75 at this wavelength, similar to the value determined for the main cloud deck in Uranus' atmosphere. The Henyey-Greenstein scattering particle asymmetry of particles in the upper cloud deck are found to be in the range g∼ 0.6-0.7 (i.e. reasonably strongly forward scattering).Numerous bright clouds are seen near Neptune's south pole at a range of pressure levels and at latitudes between 60 and 70°S. Discrete clouds were seen at the pressure level of the main cloud deck (∼2. bar) at 60°S on three of the six nights observed. Assuming they are the same feature we estimate the rotation rate at this latitude and pressure to be 13.2 ± 0.1. h. However, the observations are not entirely consistent with a single non-evolving cloud feature, which suggests that the cloud opacity or albedo may vary very rapidly at this level at a rate not seen in any other giant-planet atmosphere. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.