Planetary radio astronomy observations from voyager 2 near saturn

Planetary radio astronomy measurements obtained by Voyager 2 near Saturn have added further evidence that Saturnian kilometric radiation is emitted by a strong dayside source at auroral latitudes in the northern hemisphere and by a weaker source at complementary latitudes in the southern hemisphere. These emissions are variable because of Saturn's rotation and, on longer time scales, probably because of influences of the solar wind and Dione. The electrostatic discharge bursts first discovered by Voyager 1 and attributed to emissions from the B ring were again observed with the same broadband spectral properties and an episodic recurrence period of about 10 hours, but their occurrence frequency was only about 30 percent of that detected by Voyager 1. While crossing the ring plane at a distance of 2.88 Saturn radii, the spacecraft detected an intense noise event extending to above 1 megahertz and lasting about 150 seconds. The event is interpreted to be a consequence of the impact, vaporization, and ionization of charged, micrometer-size G ring particles distributed over a vertical thickness of about 1500 kilometers.     

Voyager 2 at neptune: imaging science results

Voyager 2 images of Neptune reveal a windy planet characterized by bright clouds of methane ice suspended in an exceptionally clear atmosphere above a lower deck of hydrogen sulfide or ammonia ices. Neptune's atmosphere is dominated by a large anticyclonic storm system that has been named the Great Dark Spot (GDS). About the same size as Earth in extent, the GDS bears both many similarities and some differences to the Great Red Spot of Jupiter. Neptune's zonal wind profile is remarkably similar to that of Uranus. Neptune has three major rings at radii of 42,000, 53,000, and 63,000 kilometers. The outer ring contains three higher density arc-like segments that were apparently responsible for most of the ground-based occultation events observed during the current decade. Like the rings of Uranus, the Neptune rings are composed of very dark material; unlike that of Uranus, the Neptune system is very dusty. Six new regular satellites were found, with dark surfaces and radii ranging from 200 to 25 kilometers. All lie inside the orbit of Triton and the inner four are located within the ring system. Triton is seen to be a differentiated body, with a radius of 1350 kilometers and a density of 2.1 grams per cubic centimeter; it exhibits clear evidence of early episodes of surface melting. A now rigid crust of what is probably water ice is overlain with a brilliant coating of nitrogen frost, slightly darkened and reddened with organic polymer material. Streaks of organic polymer suggest seasonal winds strong enough to move particles of micrometer size or larger, once they become airborne. At least two active plumes were seen, carrying dark material 8 kilometers above the surface before being transported downstream by high level winds. The plumes may be driven by solar heating and the subsequent violent vaporization of subsurface nitrogen.     

Infrared observations of the jovian system from voyager 2

Infrared spectra obtainedfrom Voyager 2 have provided additional data on the Jovian system, complementing those obtained from Voyager 1. The abundance ratio of ethane to acetylene in Jupiter's atmosphere appears to be about three times larger in the polar regions than at lower latitudes. A decidedly hemispherical asymmetry exists, with somewhat higher ratios prevailing in northern latitudes. An overall increase in the abundance ratio by a factor of about 1.7 appears to have occurred between the Voyager 1 and 2 encounters. Global brightness temperature maps of Jupiter at 226 and 602 cm(-1) exhibit a large amount of local- and planetary-scale structure, as well as temporal variability. Although heterogeneous cloud structure and ammonia concentration in the lower troposphere may contribute to the appearance of the 226-cm(-1) map, the detail in the 602-cm(-1) maps probably represents the actual horizontal thermal structure near the tropopause and suggests that dynamical heating and cooling processes are important. Low-latitude surface temperatures on the Galilean satellites rangefrom approximately 80 K on the dark sides to 155 K at the subsolar point on Callisto. Below a thin insulating layer, the thermal inertia of Callisto is somewhat greater than that of Earth's moon. Upper limits on the infrared optical depth of the Jovian ring rangingfrom approximately 3 x 10(-4) at 250 cm(-1) to 3 x 10(-3) at 600 cm(-1) have been found.     

Triton's Geyser-Like Plumes: Discovery and Basic Characterization

At least four active geyser-like eruptions were discovered in Voyager 2 images of Triton, Neptune's large satellite. The two best documented eruptions occur as columns of dark material rising to an altitude of about 8 kilometers where dark clouds of material are left suspended to drift downwind over 100 kilometers. The radii of the rising columns appear to be in the range of several tens of meters to a kilometer. One model for the mechanism to drive the plumes involves heating of nitrogen ice in a subsurface greenhouse environment; nitrogen gas pressurized by the solar heating explosively vents to the surface carrying clouds of ice and dark partides into the atmosphere. A temperature increase of less than 4 kelvins above the ambient surface value of 38 +/- 3 kelvins is more than adequate to drive the plumes to an 8-kilometer altitude. The mass flux in the trailing clouds is estimated to consist of up to 10 kilograms of fine dark particles per second or twice as much nitrogen ice and perhaps several hundred or more kilograms of nitrogen gas per second. Each eruption may last a year or more, during which on the order of a tenth of a cubic kilometer of ice is sublimed.     

Planetary radio astronomy observations from voyager 2 near jupiter

The Voyager 2 Planetary Radio Astronomy experiment to Jupiter has confirmed and extended to higher zenomagnetic latitudes results from the identical experiment carried by Voyager 1. The kilometric emissions discovered by Voyager 1 often extended to 1 megahertz or higher on Voyager 2 and often consisted of negatively or, less frequently, positively drifting narrowband bursts. On the basis of tentative identification of plasma wave emissions similar to those detected by Voyager 1, the plasma torus associated with Io appeared somewhat denser to Voyager 2 than it did to Voyager 1. We report here on quasiperiodic sinusoidal or impulsive bursts in the broadcast band range of wavelengths (800 to 1800 kilohertz). A Faraday effect appears at decametric frequencies, which probably results from propagation of the radiation near its sources on Jupiter. Finally, we discuss the occurrence of decametric emission in homologous arc families.     

基于CALIOP资料的中国及周边地区云出现概率时空分布特征分析

云垂直结构是影响大气辐射的重要参数,其时空分布是影响全球气候变化的关键组成部分.本文利用星载激光雷达CALIOP的1km云层产品,计算了中国及周边地区(0-55°N,70-140°E)云的出现概率,对不同地区、不同季节、不同高度单层云的出现概率做了对比分析.结果表明:云的出现概率表现出明显的地区差异,蒙古高原和印度半岛北部少云,热带海域和中国南方多云,多数地区夜间云出现概率略高于白天;除蒙古高原和印度半岛北部以外,多数地区单层云比多层云更常见;多数地区高云占单层云的比例最大,而中国大陆南部单层的中云较常见,西太平洋北部海域常被单层的低云覆盖;夏秋两季云出现概率普遍大于春冬两季,尤其印度半岛北部的云主要出现在夏季;蒙古高原和印度半岛北部单层云少于多层云,冬季尤其明显,而中国西南地区东部全年单层云更常见;夏季单层的高云占全年单层云的比例最大,青藏高原部分地区超过35%,这与其地形特征和夏季对流活动旺盛有关.     

Voyager radio science observations of neptune and triton

The Voyager 2 encounter with the Neptune system included radio science investigations of the masses and densities of Neptune and Triton, the low-order gravitational harmonics of Neptune, the vertical structures of the atmospheres and ionospheres of Neptune and Triton, the composition of the atmosphere of Neptune, and characteristics of ring material. Demanding experimental requirements were met successfully, and study of the large store of collected data has begun. The initial search of the data revealed no detectable effects of ring material with optical depth tau [unknown] 0.01. Preliminary representative results include the following: 1.0243 x 10(26) and 2.141 x 10(22) kilograms for the masses of Neptune and Triton; 1640 and 2054 kilograms per cubic meter for their respective densities; 1355 +/- 7 kilometers, provisionally, for the radius of Triton; and J(2) = 3411 +/- 10(x 10(-6)) and J(4) = -26(+12)(-20)(x10(-6)) for Neptune's gravity field (J>(2) and J(4) are harmonic coefficients of the gravity field). The equatorial and polar radii of Neptune are 24,764 +/- 20 and 24,340 +/- 30 kllometers, respectively, at the 10(5)-pascal (1 bar) pressure level. Neptune's atmosphere was probed to a pressure level of about 5 x 10(5) pascals, and effects of a methane cloud region and probable ammonia absorption below the cloud are evident in the data. Results for the mixing ratios of helium and ammonia are still being investigated; the methane abundance below the clouds is at least 1 percent by volume. Derived temperature-pressure profiles to 1.2 x 10(5) pascals and 78 kelvins (K) show a lapse rate corresponding to "frozen" equilibrium of the para- and ortho-hydrogen states. Neptune's ionosphere exhibits an extended topside at a temperature of 950 +/- 160 K if H(+) is the dominant ion, and narrow ionization layers of the type previously seen at the other three giant planets. Triton has a dense ionosphere with a peak electron concentration of 46 x 10(9) per cubic meter at an altitude of 340 kilometers measured during occultation egress. Its topside plasma temperature is about 80 +/- 16 K if N(2)(+) is the principal ion. The tenuous neutral atmosphere of Triton produced distinct signatures in the occultation data; however, the accuracy of the measurements is limited by uncertainties in the frequency of the spacecraft reference oscillator. Preliminary values for the surface pressure of 1.6 +/- 0.3 pascals and an equivalent isothermal temperature of 48 +/- 5 K are suggested, on the assumption that molecular nitrogen dominates the atmosphere. The radio data may be showing the effects of a thermal inversion near the surface; this and other evidence imply that the Triton atmosphere is controlled by vapor-pressure equilibrium with surface ices, at a temperature of 38 K and a methane mixing ratio of about 10(-4).     

Temperature and Thermal Emissivity of the Surface of Neptune's Satellite Triton

Analysis of the preliminary results from the Voyager mission to the Neptune system has provided the scientific community with several methods by which the temperature of Neptune's satellite Triton may be determined. If the 37.5 K surface temperature reported by several Voyager investigations is correct, then the photometry reported by the imaging experiment on Voyager requires that Triton's surface have a remarkably low emissivity. Such a low emissivity is not required in order to explain the photometry from the photopolarimeter experiment on Voyager. A low emissivity would be inconsistent with Triton having a rough surface at the approximately 100-microm scale as might be expected given the active renewal processes which appear to dominate Triton's surface.     

Mars' south polar Ar enhancement: a tracer for south polar seasonal meridional mixing

The gamma ray spectrometer on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft measured an enhancement of atmospheric argon over southern high latitudes during autumn followed by dissipation during winter and spring. Argon does not freeze at temperatures normal for southern winter (approximately 145 kelvin) and is left in the atmosphere, enriched relative to carbon dioxide (CO2), as the southern seasonal cap of CO2 frost accumulates. Calculations of seasonal transport of argon into and out of southern high latitudes point to meridional (north-south) mixing throughout southern winter and spring.     

The Neptune System in Voyager's Afterglow

Any time the view of a planet leaps from a fuzzy dot accompanied by two pinpoints of light to the riveting details of swirling clouds, rings, cratered moonlets, and even individual dust particles, planetary science is going to be in for some upheaval. Voyager 2's encounter with Neptune was no exception. Something as seemingly innocuous as an hour or two shift in the new length of a Neptunian day is giving meteorologists and physicists fits. And Neptune's canted, complex magnetic field found by Voyager knocks into a cocked hat most ideas about why a similar field at Uranus was unique. But there were more reassuring discoveries as well. Here are samplings of both sorts of findings.     

Polar lightning and decadal-scale cloud variability on Jupiter

Although lightning has been seen on other planets, including Jupiter, polar lightning has been known only on Earth. Optical observations from the New Horizons spacecraft have identified lightning at high latitudes above Jupiter up to 80 degrees N and 74 degrees S. Lightning rates and optical powers were similar at each pole, and the mean optical flux is comparable to that at nonpolar latitudes, which is consistent with the notion that internal heat is the main driver of convection. Both near-infrared and ground-based 5-micrometer thermal imagery reveal that cloud cover has thinned substantially since the 2000 Cassini flyby, particularly in the turbulent wake of the Great Red Spot and in the southern half of the equatorial region, demonstrating that vertical dynamical processes are time-varying on seasonal scales at mid- and low latitudes on Jupiter.     

Surface and airborne evidence for plumes and winds on triton

Aeolian features on Triton that were imaged during the Voyager Mission have been grouped. The term "aeolian feature" is broadly defined as features produced by or blown by the wind, including surface and airborne materials. Observations of the latitudinal distributions of the features probably associated with current activity (known plumes, crescent streaks, fixed terminator clouds, and limb haze with overshoot) all occur from latitude -37 degrees to latitude -62 degrees . Likely indicators of previous activity (dark surface streaks) occur from latitude -5 degrees to -70 degrees , but are most abundant from -15 degrees to -45 degrees , generally north of currently active features. Those indicators which give information on wind direction and speed have been measured. Wind direction is a function of altitude. The predominant direction of the surface wind streaks is found to be between 40 degrees and 80 degrees measured clockwise from north. The average orientation of streaks in the northeast quadrant is 59 degrees . Winds at 1- to 3- kilometer altitude are eastward, while those at &8 kilometers blow west.     

Oceans on titan?

If global oceans of methane exist on Titan, the atmosphere above them must be within 2 percent of saturation. The two Voyager radio occultation soundings, made at low latitudes, probably occurred over land, since they imply a relative humidity less, similar 70 percent near the surface. Oceans might exist at other low-latitude locations if the zonal wind velocities in the lowest 3 kilometers are 相似文献   

Is titan wet or dry?

Titan's dense and cold nitrogen atmosphere contains a small amount of methane under conditions at least approaching those at which one or both constituents would condense. The possibility of methane and nitrogen rain clouds and global methane oceans has been discussed widely. From specific features of radio occultation and other Voyager results, however, it is concluded that nitrogen does not condense on Titan and that Titan has neither global methane oceans nor a global cloud of liquid methane droplets. Certain results indirectly support the conjecture that methane does not condense at any location. However, other considerations favor a methane ice haze high in the troposphere, and liquid and solid methane might exist on the surface and as low clouds at polar latitudes.     

Seasonal flows on warm Martian slopes

Water probably flowed across ancient Mars, but whether it ever exists as a liquid on the surface today remains debatable. Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are narrow (0.5 to 5 meters), relatively dark markings on steep (25° to 40°) slopes; repeat images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment show them to appear and incrementally grow during warm seasons and fade in cold seasons. They extend downslope from bedrock outcrops, often associated with small channels, and hundreds of them form in some rare locations. RSL appear and lengthen in the late southern spring and summer from 48°S to 32°S latitudes favoring equator-facing slopes, which are times and places with peak surface temperatures from ~250 to 300 kelvin. Liquid brines near the surface might explain this activity, but the exact mechanism and source of water are not understood.     

Large quasi-circular features beneath frost on triton

Specially processed Voyager 2 images of Neptune's largest moon, Triton, reveal three large quasi-circular features ranging in diameter from 280 to 935 kilometers within Triton's equatorial region. The largest of these features contains a central, irregularly shaped area of comparatively low albedo about 380 kilometers in diameter, surrounded by crudely concentric annuli of higher albedo materials. None of the features exhibit significant topographic expression, and all appear to be primarily albedo markings. The features are located within a broad equatorial band of anomalously transparent frost that renders them nearly invisible at the large phase angles (alpha > 90 degrees ) at which Voyager obtained its highest resolution coverage of Triton. The features can be discerned at smaller phase angles (alpha = 66 degrees ) at which the frost only partially masks underlying albedo contrasts. The origin of the features is uncertain but may have involved regional cryovolcanic activity.     

Jupiter's Cloud Distribution Between the Voyager 1 and 2 Encounters: Results from 5-Micrometer Imaging

As part of a continuing effort of ground-based support for Voyager target selection, infrared images in the 5-micrometer wavelength region were acquired in preparation for the Voyager 2 flyby of Jupiter. Observations were made during May 1979 from the Palomar 5-meter telescope and the new 3-meter NASA Infrared Telescope Facility at Mauna Kea and are compared to previous observations. Variations seen in the 5-micrometer flux distribution suggest global patterns of clouding over of some Jovian belts and clearing ofothers. These data were used to predict the Jovian cloud distribution at the time of the Voyager 2 encounter in order to target the imaging and infrared experiments to areas free of high obscuring clouds.     

Voyager 2 in the uranian system: imaging science results

Voyager 2 images of the southern hemisphere of Uranus indicate that submicrometersize haze particles and particles of a methane condensation cloud produce faint patterns in the atmosphere. The alignment of the cloud bands is similar to that of bands on Jupiter and Saturn, but the zonal winds are nearly opposite. At mid-latitudes (-70 degrees to -27 degrees ), where winds were measured, the atmosphere rotates faster than the magnetic field; however, the rotation rate of the atmosphere decreases toward the equator, so that the two probably corotate at about -20 degrees . Voyager images confirm the extremely low albedo of the ring particles. High phase angle images reveal on the order of 10(2) new ringlike features of very low optical depth and relatively high dust abundance interspersed within the main rings, as well as a broad, diffuse, low optical depth ring just inside the main rings system. Nine of the newly discovered small satellites (40 to 165 kilometers in diameter) orbit between the rings and Miranda; the tenth is within the ring system. Two of these small objects may gravitationally confine the e ring. Oberon and Umbriel have heavily cratered surfaces resembling the ancient cratered highlands of Earth's moon, although Umbriel is almost completely covered with uniform dark material, which perhaps indicates some ongoing process. Titania and Ariel show crater populations different from those on Oberon and Umbriel; these were probably generated by collisions with debris confined to their orbits. Titania and Ariel also show many extensional fault systems; Ariel shows strong evidence for the presence of extrusive material. About halfof Miranda's surface is relatively bland, old, cratered terrain. The remainder comprises three large regions of younger terrain, each rectangular to ovoid in plan, that display complex sets of parallel and intersecting scarps and ridges as well as numerous outcrops of bright and dark materials, perhaps suggesting some exotic composition.     

The Effect of Surface Roughness on Triton's Volatile Distribution

Calculations of radiative equilibrium temperatures on Triton's rough surface suggest that significant condensation of N(2) may be occurring in the northern equatorial regions, despite their relatively dark appearance. The bright frost is not apparent in the Voyager images because it tends to be concentrated in relatively unilluminated facets of the surface. This patchwork of bright frost-covered regions and darker bare ground may be distributed on scales smaller than that of the Voyager resolution; as a result the northern equatorial regions may appear relatively dark. This hypothesis also accounts for the observed wind direction in the southern hemisphere because it implies that the equatorial regions are warmer than the south polar regions.     

Ices on the surface of triton

The near-infrared spectrum of Triton reveals ices of nitrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, of which nitrogen is the dominant component. Carbon dioxide ice may be spatially segregated from the other more volatile ices, covering about 10 percent of Triton's surface. The absence of ices of other hydrocarbons and nitriles challenges existing models of methane and nitrogen photochemistry on Triton.