Related papers: Chaos, storms and climate on Mars
The existence of liquid water within an oxidized environment on early Mars has been inferred by the Mn-rich rocks found during recent explorations on Mars. The oxidized atmosphere implied by the Mn-rich rocks would basically be comprised of…
Regolith on Mars exchanges water with the atmosphere on a diurnal basis and this process causes significant variation in the abundance of water vapor at the surface. While previous studies of regolith-atmosphere exchange focus on the…
Results from Juno's microwave radiometer indicate non-uniform mixing of ammonia vapor in Jupiter's atmosphere down to tens of bars, far beneath the cloud level. Helioseismic observations suggest solar convection may require narrow,…
Thermal tides are atmospheric planetary-scale waves with periods that are harmonics of the solar day. In the Martian atmosphere thermal tides are known to be especially significant compared to any other known planet. Based on the data set…
Ancient sediments provide archives of climate and habitability on Mars. Gale Crater, the landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), hosts a 5 km high sedimentary mound. Hypotheses for mound formation include evaporitic, lacustrine,…
Seasonal frosting and defrosting on the surface of Mars is hypothesized to drive both climate processes and the formation and evolution of geomorphological features such as gullies. Past studies have focused on manually analyzing the…
Recent Juno observations have greatly extended the temporal and spatial coverage of lightning detection on Jupiter. We use these data to constrain a model of moist convection and lightning generation in Jupiter's atmosphere, and derive a…
Surface liquid water is essential for standard planetary habitability. Calculations of atmospheric circulation on tidally locked planets around M stars suggest that this peculiar orbital configuration lends itself to the trapping of large…
This paper refines model predictions for the production of methane from UV-irradiated interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) now that the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) instrument onboard the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Rover…
Storms operated by moist convection and the condensation of $\rm CH_{4}$ or $\rm H_{2}S$ have been observed on Uranus and Neptune. However, the mechanism of cloud formation, thermal structure, and mixing efficiency of ice giant weather…
We study the transport of methane in the external water envelopes surrounding water-rich super-Earths and estimate its outgassing into the atmosphere. We investigate the influence of methane on the thermodynamics and mechanics of the water…
All three terrestrial planets with atmospheres support O3 layers of some thickness. While currently only that of Earth is substantial enough to be climatically significant, we hypothesize that ancient Mars may also have supported a thick O3…
From STIS observations of Uranus in 2012, we found that the methane volume mixing ratio declined from about 4% at low latitudes to about 2% at 60 deg N and beyond. This is similar to that found in the south polar regions in 2002, in spite…
We study the interaction of three solar wind structures, two stream interaction regions and one interplanetary coronal mass ejection, with Mars' plasma environment during 20-27 November 2007. This period corresponds to the solar minimum…
The ratio of nitrogen isotopes in the Martian atmosphere is a key constraint on the planet's atmospheric evolution. However, enrichment of the heavy isotope expected due to atmospheric loss from sputtering and photochemical processes is…
One-third of Mars' surface has shallow-buried H$_2$O, but it is currently too cold for use by life. Proposals to warm Mars using greenhouse gases require a large mass of ingredients that are rare on Mars' surface. However, we show here that…
The intense debate about the presence of methane in the Martian atmosphere has stimulated the study of methanogens adapted to terrestrial habitats that mimic Martian environments. We examinate the environmental conditions, energy sources…
There are four different stable climate states for pure water atmospheres, as might exist on so-called "waterworlds". I map these as a function of solar constant for planets ranging in size from Mars size to 10 Earth-mass. The states are:…
Simulations with the Max Planck Institute Martian general circulation model for Martian years 28 and 34 reveal details of the water "pump" mechanism and the role of gravity wave (GW) forcing. Water is advected to the upper atmosphere mainly…
Dark deposits visible from orbit appear in the Martian south polar region during the springtime. These are thought to form from explosive jets of carbon dioxide gas breaking through the thawing seasonal ice cap, carrying dust and dirt which…