Search Publications
Dune-forming winds on Titan and the influence of topography
Tokano, Tetsuya
Numerous extended dunes on Saturn's moon Titan detected by the Cassini RADAR constrain the long-term pattern of surface winds. We analyse the statistics of surface wind speed and direction and their spatial and temporal variability predicted by a general circulation model (GCM) in order to constrain surface wind predictions of this GCM by dune obs…
Coupled ion and neutral rotating model of Titan's upper atmosphere
Waite, J. H.; Cravens, T. E.; Robertson, I. P. +2 more
A one-dimensional composition model of Titan's upper atmosphere is constructed, coupling 36 neutral species and 47 ions. Energy inputs from the Sun and from Saturn's magnetosphere and updated temperature and eddy coefficient parameters are taken into account. A rotating technique at constant latitude and varying local-time is proposed to account f…
Cometary dust trail associated with Rosetta mission target: 67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko
Ishiguro, Masateru
A thin, bright dust cloud, which is associated with the Rosetta mission target object (67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko), was observed after the 2002 perihelion passage. The neckline structure or dust trail nature of this cloud is controversial. In this paper, we definitively identify the dust trail and the neckline structure using a wide-field CCD camer…
Sources and losses of energetic protons in Saturn's magnetosphere
Krupp, N.; Jones, G. H.; Roussos, E. +7 more
We present Cassini data revealing that protons between a few keV and about 100 keV energy are not stably trapped in Saturn's inner magnetosphere. Instead these ions are present only for relatively short times following injections. Injected protons are lost principally because the neutral gas cloud converts these particles to energetic neutral atom…
Cassini UVIS observations of the Io plasma torus. IV. Modeling temporal and azimuthal variability
Delamere, P. A.; Bagenal, F.; Steffl, A. J.
In this fourth paper in a series, we present a model of the remarkable temporal and azimuthal variability of the Io plasma torus observed during the Cassini encounter with Jupiter. Over a period of three months, the Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) observed a dramatic variation in the average torus composition. Superimposed on this …
Magnetic portraits of Tethys and Rhea
Russell, C. T.; Dougherty, M. K.; Khurana, Krishan K.
The Cassini spacecraft made a single flyby each of Saturn's icy moons Tethys and Rhea in late 2005. The magnetic field observations from these flybys provide unique portraits of the magnetic properties of these moons. These are the first observations of interactions of these inert moons with the sub-magnetosonic plasma of Saturn's magnetosphere. B…
Climate, weather, and north polar observations from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Color Imager
Bell, James F.; Thomas, Peter C.; Wolff, Michael J. +7 more
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observes Mars from a nearly circular, polar orbit. From this vantage point, the Mars Color Imager extends the ∼5 Mars years record of Mars Global Surveyor global, visible-wavelength multi-color observations of meteorological events and adds measurements at three additional visible and two ultraviolet wavelengths. Ob…
Titan's diverse landscapes as evidenced by Cassini RADAR's third and fourth looks at Titan
Soderblom, L. A.; Ostro, S. J.; Janssen, M. A. +41 more
Cassini's third and fourth radar flybys, T7 and T8, covered diverse terrains in the high southern and equatorial latitudes, respectively. The T7 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) swath is somewhat more straightforward to understand in terms of a progressive poleward descent from a high, dissected, and partly hilly terrain down to a low flat plain wit…
The temperature of the Venus mesosphere from O 2 ( aΔg1) airglow observations
Bailey, Jeremy; Crisp, D.; Chamberlain, S. +1 more
We have used near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the Venus nightside taken with the Infrared Imager and Spectrograph 2 (IRIS2) on the Anglo-Australian Telescope to derive temperature maps for the Venus mesosphere at an altitude of ∼95 km. The temperatures are derived from the distribution of rotational line intensities in the O 2
Evidence for ponding and catastrophic floods in central Valles Marineris, Mars
Harrison, Keith P.; Chapman, Mary G.
The Valles Marineris canyon system of Mars is closely related to large flood channels, some of which emerge full born from chaotic terrain in canyon floors. Coprates Chasma, one of the largest Valles Marineris canyons, is connected at its west end to Melas Chasma and on its east end to chaotic terrain-filled Capri and Eos Chasmata. The area from c…