Search Publications
The growth of wind-waves in Titan's hydrocarbon seas
Lorenz, Ralph D.; Hayes, Alexander G.
Ocean wave growth on Titan is considered. The classic Sverdrup-Munk theory for terrestrial wave growth is applied to Titan, and is compared with a simple energy balance model that exposes the effect of Titan's environmental parameters (air density, gravity, and fluid density). These approaches are compared with the only previously-published (semi-…
Dust levitation as a major resurfacing process on the surface of a saturnian icy satellite, Atlas
Hirata, Naoyuki; Miyamoto, Hideaki
A small inner satellite of Saturn, Atlas, has an enigmatic saucer-like shape explained by an accumulation of particles from A-ring of Saturn. However, its unusual smooth surface remains unexplained. Gardening through continuous particle impact events cannot be a unique explanation for the smoothness, because Prometheus does not exhibit a similar s…
The distribution of carbon monoxide in the lower atmosphere of Venus
Bailey, Jeremy; Cotton, Daniel V.; Crisp, D. +1 more
We have obtained spatially resolved near-infrared spectroscopy of the Venus nightside on 15 nights over three observing seasons. We use the depth of the CO absorption band at 2.3 µm to map the two-dimensional distribution of CO across both hemispheres. Radiative transfer models are used to relate the measured CO band depth to the volume mixi…
Lunar iron abundance determination using the 2-µm absorption band parameters
Bhatt, Megha; Mall, Urs; Bugiolacchi, Roberto +4 more
In this work we report the first employment of the 2-µm absorption band parameters to estimate FeO weight percentage (wt.%) abundances from high-resolution Near-Infrared (NIR) lunar data, as measured by the SIR-2 instrument on board Chandrayaan-1. Our method is based on the algorithm originally developed by Le Mouélic et al. (Le Mouélic, S.,…
Identification and physical properties of craters on Asteroid (2867) Steins
Jorda, L.; Lamy, P.; Barbieri, C. +2 more
We report on the physical properties of the craters of Asteroid (2867) Steins based on an analysis of images obtained with the OSIRIS instrument during the Rosetta flyby that took place on 5 September 2008. To compensate for the limited spatial resolution of the images and unfavorable illumination conditions, we applied three different filtering t…
Observations of HCl altitude dependence and temporal variation in the 70-100 km mesosphere of Venus
Clancy, R. Todd; Sandor, Brad J.
Spectroscopically resolved observations of the 625.9 GHz H35Cl absorption lines were obtained with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on October 23, November 7, and December 5, 2010. The nightside atmosphere was observed on all three dates, and the dayside morning crescent was also observed on December 5. Shape of the pressure-broadened …
The impact of a weak south pole on thermal convection in Enceladus’ ice shell
Showman, Adam P.; Tobie, Gabriel; Han, Lijie
Enceladus exhibits a strong hemispheric dichotomy of tectonism and heat flux, with geologically young, heavily tectonized terrains and a high heat flux in the South Polar Terrain (SPT) and relatively ancient terrains with presumably lower heat fluxes over the rest of the satellite. To understand the convective pattern and its relationship with sur…
Dielectric constant estimation of the uppermost Basal Unit layer in the martian Boreales Scopuli region
Orosei, Roberto; Pettinelli, Elena; Mattei, Elisabetta +3 more
An electromagnetic inversion model has been applied to echoes from the subsurface sounding Shallow Radar (SHARAD) to retrieve the dielectric properties of the uppermost Basal Unit (BU) beneath the North Polar Layered Deposits of Mars. SHARAD data have been carefully selected to satisfy the assumption of the inversion model which requires a stratig…
Rotation period of Venus estimated from Venus Express VIRTIS images and Magellan altimetry
Erard, S.; Drossart, P.; Piccioni, G. +2 more
The 1.02 µm wavelength thermal emission of the nightside of Venus is strongly anti-correlated to the elevation of the surface. The VIRTIS instrument on Venus Express has mapped this emission and therefore gives evidence for the orientation of Venus between 2006 and 2008. The Magellan mission provided a global altimetry data set recorded betw…
Post-equinox dynamics and polar cloud structure on Uranus
Sromovsky, L. A.; Fry, P. M.; Hammel, H. B. +2 more
Post equinox imaging of Uranus by HST, Keck, and Gemini telescopes has enabled new measurements of winds over previously sampled latitudes as well as measurements at high northern latitudes that have recently come into better view. These new observations also used techniques to greatly improve signal to noise ratios, making possible the detection …