Search Publications
Multitemporal observations of identical active dust devils on Mars with the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) and Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
Neukum, G.; Reiss, D.; Zanetti, M.
Active dust devils were observed in Syria Planum in Mars Observer Camera - Wide Angle (MOC-WA) and High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) imagery acquired on the same day with a time delay of ∼26 min. The unique operating technique of the HRSC allowed the measurement of the traverse velocities and directions of motion. Large dust devils observed in …
Annual survey of water vapor behavior from the OMEGA mapping spectrometer onboard Mars Express
Maltagliati, Luca; Bibring, Jean-Pierre; Forget, Francois +4 more
We present here the annual behavior of atmospheric water vapor on Mars, as observed by the OMEGA spectrometer on board Mars Express during its first martian year. We consider all the different features of the cycle of water vapor: temporal evolution, both at a seasonal and at a diurnal scale; longitudinal distribution; and the vertical profile, th…
Asteroid (21) Lutetia as a remnant of Earth’s precursor planetesimals
Jorda, L.; Lamy, P.; Groussin, O. +7 more
Isotopic and chemical compositions of meteorites, coupled with dynamical simulations, suggest that the main belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter contains objects formed in situ as well as a population of interlopers. These interlopers are predicted to include the building blocks of the terrestrial planets as well as objects that formed beyon…
Finding the trigger to Iapetus' odd global albedo pattern: Dynamics of dust from Saturn's irregular satellites
Hamilton, Douglas P.; Hedman, Matthew M.; Burns, Joseph A. +1 more
The leading face of Saturn's moon Iapetus, Cassini Regio, has an albedo only one tenth that on its trailing side. The origin of this enigmatic dichotomy has been debated for over 40 years, but with new data, a clearer picture is emerging. Motivated by Cassini radar and imaging observations, we investigate Soter's model of dark exogenous dust strik…
Ion flow and momentum transfer in the Venus plasma environment
Fedorov, A.; Barabash, S.; Lundin, R. +3 more
An analysis of ion data from 390 Venus Express, VEX, orbits demonstrates that the flow of solar wind- and ionospheric ions near Venus is characterized by a marked asymmetry. The flow asymmetry of solar wind H + and ionospheric O + points steadily in the opposite direction to the planet's orbital motion, and is most pronounced…
Waves in Cassini UVIS stellar occultations. 2. The C ring
Lissauer, Jack J.; Colwell, Joshua E.; Esposito, Larry W. +2 more
We performed a complete wavelet analysis of Saturn's C ring on 62 stellar occultation profiles. These profiles were obtained by Cassini's Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph High Speed Photometer. We used a WWZ wavelet power transform to analyze them. With a co-adding process, we found evidence of 40 wavelike structures, 18 of which are reported here…
Evidence for Amazonian northern mid-latitude regional glacial landsystems on Mars: Glacial flow models using GCM-driven climate results and comparisons to geological observations
Head, James W.; Forget, Francois; Fastook, James L. +2 more
A fretted valley system on Mars located at the northern mid-latitude dichotomy boundary contains lineated valley fill (LVF) with extensive flow-like features interpreted to be glacial in origin. We have modeled this deposit using glacial flow models linked to atmospheric general circulation models (GCM) for conditions consistent with the depositio…
The structure of Titan's atmosphere from Cassini radio occultations
French, Richard G.; Flasar, F. Michael; Marouf, Essam A. +7 more
We present results from the two radio occultations of the Cassini spacecraft by Titan in 2006, which probed mid-southern latitudes. Three of the ingress and egress soundings occurred within a narrow latitude range, 31-34°S near the surface, and the fourth at 52.8°S. Temperature-altitude profiles for all four occultation soundings are presented, an…
Monte Carlo modeling of neutral gas and dust in the coma of Comet 1P/Halley
Hansen, Kenneth C.; Gombosi, Tamas I.; Combi, Michael R. +4 more
The neutral gas environment of a comet is largely influenced by dissociation of parent molecules created at the surface of the comet and collisions of all the involved species. We compare the results from a kinetic model of the neutral cometary environment with measurements from the Neutral Mass Spectrometer and the Dust Impact Detection System on…
Power spectral analysis of Jupiter’s clouds and kinetic energy from Cassini
Showman, Adam P.; Choi, David S.
We present suggestive evidence for an inverse energy cascade within Jupiter’s atmosphere through a calculation of the power spectrum of its kinetic energy and its cloud patterns. Using Cassini observations, we composed full-longitudinal mosaics of Jupiter’s atmosphere at several wavelengths. We also utilized image pairs derived from these observat…