Planetary atmosphere observation analysis

Abstract:

The upper atmosphere of a planet is a transition region in which energy is transferred between the deeper atmosphere and outer space. Molecular emissions from the upper atmosphere (90-120 km altitude) of Venus can be used to investigate the energetics and to trace the circulation of this hitherto little-studied region. Previous spacecraft and ground-based observations of infrared emission from CO2, O2 and NO have established that photochemical and dynamic activity controls the structure of the upper atmosphere of Venus. These data, however, have left unresolved the precise altitude of the emission owing to a lack of data and of an adequate observing geometry. Here we report measurements of day-side CO2 non-local thermodynamic equilibrium emission at 4.3 microm, extending from 90 to 120 km altitude, and of night-side O2 emission extending from 95 to 100 km. The CO2 emission peak occurs at approximately 115 km and varies with solar zenith angle over a range of approximately 10 km. This confirms previous modelling, and permits the beginning of a systematic study of the variability of the emission. The O2 peak emission happens at 96 km +/- 1 km, which is consistent with three-body recombination of oxygen atoms transported from the day side by a global thermospheric sub-solar to anti-solar circulation, as previously predicted.

Abstract:

These are the first results from nadir studies of meridional variations in the abundance of stratospheric acetylene and ethane from Cassini/CIRS data in the southern hemisphere of Saturn. High resolution, 0.5 cm-1, CIRS data was used from three data sets taken in June-November 2004 and binned into 2° wide latitudinal strips to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. Tropospheric and stratospheric temperatures were initially retrieved to determine the temperature profile for each latitude bin. The stratospheric temperature at 2 mbar increased by 14 K from 9° to 68° S, including a steep 4 K rise between 60° and 68° S. The tropospheric temperatures showed significantly more meridional variation than the stratospheric ones, the locations of which are strongly correlated to that of the zonal jets. Stratospheric acetylene abundance decreases steadily from 30 to 68° S, by a factor of 1.8 at 2.0 mbar. Between 18° and 30° S the acetylene abundance increases at 2.0 mbar. Global values for acetylene have been calculated as (1.9 ± 0.19) × 10-7 at 2.0 mbar, (2.6 ± 0.27) × 10-7 at 1.6 mbar and (3.1 ± 0.32) × 10-7 at 1.4 mbar. Global values for ethane are also determined and found to be (1.6 ± 0.25) × 10-5 at 0.5 mbar and (1.4 ± 0.19) × 10-5 at 1.0 mbar. Ethane abundance in the stratosphere increases towards the south pole by a factor of 2.5 at 2.0 mbar. The increase in stratospheric ethane is especially pronounced polewards of 60° S at 2.0 mbar. The increase of stratospheric ethane towards the south pole supports the presence of a meridional wind system in the stratosphere of Saturn. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

The Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) on board the ESA/Venus Express mission has technical specifications well suited for many science objectives of Venus exploration. VIRTIS will both comprehensively explore a plethora of atmospheric properties and processes and map optical properties of the surface through its three channels, VIRTIS-M-vis (imaging spectrometer in the 0.3-1 μm range), VIRTIS-M-IR (imaging spectrometer in the 1-5 μm range) and VIRTIS-H (aperture high-resolution spectrometer in the 2-5 μm range). The atmospheric composition below the clouds will be repeatedly measured in the night side infrared windows over a wide range of latitudes and longitudes, thereby providing information on Venus's chemical cycles. In particular, CO, H2O, OCS and SO2 can be studied. The cloud structure will be repeatedly mapped from the brightness contrasts in the near-infrared night side windows, providing new insights into Venusian meteorology. The global circulation and local dynamics of Venus will be extensively studied from infrared and visible spectral images. The thermal structure above the clouds will be retrieved in the night side using the 4.3 μm fundamental band of CO2. The surface of Venus is detectable in the short-wave infrared windows on the night side at 1.01, 1.10 and 1.18 μm, providing constraints on surface properties and the extent of active volcanism. Many more tentative studies are also possible, such as lightning detection, the composition of volcanic emissions, and mesospheric wave propagation. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

Thermal infrared spectra of Saturn from 10-1400 cm-1 at 15 cm-1 spectral resolution and a spatial resolution of 1°-2° latitude have been obtained by the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer [Flasar, F.M., and 44 colleagues, 2004. Space Sci. Rev. 115, 169-297]. Many thousands of spectra, acquired over eighteen-months of observations, are analysed using an optimal estimation retrieval code [Irwin, P.G.J., Parrish, P., Fouchet, T., Calcutt, S.B., Taylor, F.W., Simon-Miller, A.A., Nixon, C.A., 2004. Icarus 172, 37-49] to retrieve the temperature structure and para-hydrogen distribution over Saturn's northern (winter) and southern (summer) hemispheres. The vertical temperature structure is analysed in detail to study seasonal asymmetries in the tropopause height (65-90 mbar), the location of the radiative-convective boundary (350-500 mbar), and the variation with latitude of a temperature knee (between 150 and 300 mbar) which was first observed in inversions of Voyager/IRIS spectra [Hanel, R., and 15 colleagues, 1981. Science 212, 192-200; Hanel, R., Conrath, B., Flasar, F.M., Kunde, V., Maguire, W., Pearl, J.C., Pirraglia, J., Samuelson, R., Cruikshank, D.P., Gautier, D., Gierasch, P.J., Horn, L., Ponnamperuma, C., 1982. Science 215, 544-548]. Uncertainties due to both the modelling of spectral absorptions (collision-induced absorption coefficients, tropospheric hazes, helium abundance) and the nature of our retrieval algorithm are quantified. Temperatures in the stratosphere near 1 mbar show a 25-30 K temperature difference between the north pole and south pole. This asymmetry becomes less pronounced with depth as the radiative time constant for the atmospheric response increases at deeper pressure levels. Hemispherically-symmetric small-scale temperature structures associated with zonal winds are superimposed onto the temperature asymmetry for pressures greater than 100 mbar. The para-hydrogen fraction in the 100-400 mbar range is greater than equilibrium predictions for the southern hemisphere and parts of the northern hemisphere, and less than equilibrium predictions polewards of 40° N. The temperature knee between 150-300 mbar is larger in the summer hemisphere than in the winter, smaller and higher at the equator, deeper and larger in the equatorial belts and small at the poles. Solar heating on tropospheric haze is proposed as a possible mechanism for this effect; the increased efficiency of ortho- to para-hydrogen conversion in the southern hemisphere is consistent with the presence of larger aerosols in the summer hemisphere, which we demonstrate to be qualitatively consistent with previous studies of Saturn's tropospheric aerosol distribution. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.