Related papers: Gravity-Induced Ice Compaction and Subsurface Poro…
Recent planetary data and geophysical modelling suggest that hydrothermal activity is ongoing under the ice crust of Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. According to these models, hydrothermal flow in the porous, rocky core of the satellite…
Assuming our Solar System as typical, exomoons may outnumber exoplanets. If their habitability fraction is similar, they would thus constitute the largest portion of habitable real estate in the Universe. Icy moons in our Solar System, such…
Substructure in the interstellar medium (ISM) is crucial for establishing the correlation between star formation and feedback and has the capacity to significantly perturb stellar orbits, thus playing a central role in galaxy dynamics and…
We present best-fit values of porosity -- and the corresponding effective thermal inertiae -- determined from three different depths in Europa's near-subsurface (~1-20 cm). The porosity of the upper ~20 cm of Europa's subsurface varies…
Carbon dioxide (CO$_2$) ice clouds have been routinely observed in the middle atmosphere of Mars. However, there are still uncertainties concerning physical mechanisms that control their altitude, geographical, and seasonal distributions.…
We determine the surface density of matter in the disc of the Galaxy at the solar position using K giant stars. The local space density and luminosity function of the giants is determined using parallaxes from the Hipparcos satellite; for…
After the sunset, under calm and clear sky conditions, aerosol laden surface air-layer, cools radiatively to the upper atmosphere. Predominant effect of the radiative cooling on the vertical temperature profile extends to several hundred…
Planets grow via the collisional accretion of small bodies in a protoplanetary disk. Such small bodies feel strong gas drag and their orbits are significantly affected by the gas flow and atmospheric structure around the planet. We…
We investigate the melt production of planetary impacts as a function of planet size ($R/R_\mathrm{Earth}$=0.1-1.5), impactor size ($L$=1-1000 km), and core size ratio ($R_\mathrm{core}/R$=0.2-0.8) using a combination of parameterized…
Our goal is to investigate fundamental properties of the system of internally cooled convection. The system consists of an upward thermal flux at the lower boundary, a mean temperature lapse-rate and a constant cooling term in the bulk with…
We determine an expression for the Type I planet migration torque involving a locally isothermal disk, with moderate turbulent viscosity (~0.0005 < alpha < ~0.05), based on three-dimensional nonlinear hydrodynamical simulations. The radial…
We describe a comprehensive model for the formation and morphological development of atmospheric ice crystals growing from water vapor, also known as snow crystals. Our model derives in part from empirical measurements of the intrinsic ice…
When carbon dioxide (CO2) is injected into an aquifer or a depleted geological reservoir, its dissolution into solution results in acidification of the pore waters. As a consequence, the pore waters become more reactive, which leads to…
We use the Mars Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (MRAMS) to simulate lake storms on Mars, finding that intense localized precipitation will occur for lake size >=10^3 km^2. Mars has a low-density atmosphere, so deep convection can be…
The surface gravity on Mars is smaller than the surface gravity on Earth, resulting in longer falling times. This effect can be simulated on Earth by taking advantage of air resistance and buoyancy, which cause low density objects to fall…
Two arguments have suggested the presence of subsurface water ice at latitudes lower than 30\textdegree~on Mars. First, the absence of CO2 frost on pole-facing slopes was explained by the presence of subsurface ice. Second, models suggested…
By solving analytically the various types of Lane-Emden equations with rotation, we have discovered two new coupled fundamental properties of rotating, self-gravitating, gaseous disks in equilibrium: Isothermal disks must, on average,…
Compacted unsaturated swelling clay is often considered as a possible buffer material for deep nuclear waste disposal. An isotropic cell permitting simultaneous control of suction, temperature and pressure was used to study the…
The classical theory of cold-trapped ice on the Moon and some modern theories are reviewed and compared with observational constraints. The "standard model" for lunar ice posits that ice has accumulated in polar cold traps after the spin…
Although it is well known that a massive planet opens a gap in a proto-planetary gaseous disk, there is no analytic description of the surface density profile in and near the gap. The simplest approach, which is based upon the balance…