Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Rages, Kathy.
We correct spectra of Yogi to remove diffuse illumination and show that the part of Yogi facing the wind is less red than other faces of the rock. Our method eliminates ambiguity in interpreting spectra obtained under Mars illumination conditions. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
Radiative transfer calculations are performed to remove the effect of diffuse illumination on the color of the martian surface. We describe the methods and apply them to a radiometric calibration target, and to a superpan cube of the rock Yogi. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
We have inverted high-phase-angle Voyager images of Neptune to determine the atmospheric extinction coefficient as a function of altitude and the scattering phase function at a reference altitude. Comparisons between theoretical model and observations help separate the contributions from molecular Rayleigh and aerosol scattering and help determine the variation of the aerosol size, concentration, and scattering properties with altitude. Further comparisons between models and data allow us to place constraints on the location and composition of the hazes, the concentration and downward flux of certain condensible hydrocarbon gases, the eddy diffusion coefficient in the lower stratosphere, and the thermal profile in parts of Neptune's stratosphere. We find that a distinct stratospheric haze layer exists near 12(sub -1, sup +1) mbar in Neptune's lower stratosphere, most probably due to condensed ethane. The derived stratospheric haze production rate of 1.0(sub -0.3, sup +0.2) x 10(exp -15) g cm(exp -2) sec(exp -1) is substantially lower than photochemical model predictions. Evidence for hazes at higher altitudes also exists. Unlike the situation on Uranus, large particles (0.08-0.11 microns) may be present at high altitudes on Neptune (e.g., near 0.5 mbar), well above the region in which we expect the major hydrocarbon species to condense. Near 28 mbar, the mean particle size is about 0.13(sub -0.02, sup +0.02) microns with a concentration of 5(sub -3, sup +3) particles cm(exp -3). The cumulative haze extinction optical depth above 15 mbar in the clear filter is approx. 3 x 10(exp -3), and much of this extinction is due to scattering rather than absorption; thus, if our limb-scan sites are typical, the hazes cannot account for the stratospheric temperature inversion on Neptune and may not contribute significantly to atmospheric heating. We compare the imaging results with the results from other observations, including those of the Voyager Photopolarimeter Subsystem, and discuss differences between Neptune and Uranus.
Results are presented from a detailed analysis of Voyager images of Triton obtained at the highest solar phase angles; these have been fit to Mie scattering models in order to obtain the mean particle sizes, number densities, and the vertical extent of the two different scattering components of the Triton atmosphere. The 0.001-0.01 optical depths of about 0.17 micron particles are vertically distributed with scale heights of about 10 km throughout Triton. A number of properties of the haze particles in question suggest that they are composed of photochemically produced gases which have condensed in the cold lower atmosphere of Triton.
Scalar and vector radiative transfer and microphysical models are presently constructed from photometrically and geometrically corrected Voyager images of Uranus defining spatially-resolved intensities over a range of phase angles for two latitude bands. The methane ice cloud occupying 1.2-1.3 bar is of 0.7 optical depth at 22.5 deg S, rising to 2.4 at 65 deg S; the volume absorption coefficient of the cloud particles is 50 percent greater at the low latitude than at the high, assuming constant mean cloud particle size. The scattering model also includes photochemically-produced stratospheric hydrocarbon ices in the upper troposphere and stratosphere, as well as an optically thick hydrogen sulfide cloud.
Nitrogen and methane ices on the surface of Triton, Neptune's largest satellite, are exchanged between the summer and winter hemispheres on a seasonal time scale. Images of the satellite's sky obtained by the Voyager 2 spacecraft show the presence of several types of scattering materials that provide insights into this seasonal cycle of volatiles. Discrete clouds, probably composed of N2 ice particles, arise in regions of active sublimation. They are found chiefly poloward of 30 deg S in the southern, summer hemisphere. Haze particles, probably made of hydrocarbon ices, are present above most, but not all places. Recent snowfall may have occurred at low southern latitudes in places where they are absent. The latent heat released in the formation of the discrete clouds may have a major impact on the thermal balance of the lower atmosphere. Triton may have been less red at the time of the Voyager flyby than 12 years earlier due to recent N2 snowfall at a wide range of latitudes.
The characteristics and origin of lower-stratosphere haze on Uranus are investigated on the basis of high-phase-angle images obtained at 430-600 nm with the wide-angle and narrow-angle cameras of Voyager 2 during its encounter with Uranus in January 1986. The data-reduction and model-fitting procedures are explained in detail, and the results are presented in extensive tables and graphs. The data are found to be best matched by a haze consisting of particles of modal radius 130 + or - 20 nm and number density 2 + or - 1 per cu cm at the 44-mbar level; such aerosols could be formed by the stratospheric condensation of photochemically produced hydrocarbon gases (locally formed diacetylene and ethane, acetylene, and diacetylene formed at higher altitudes). A total aerosol production rate of (2-15) x 10 to the -17th g/sq cm sec is estimated.
Models possessing an upper haze layer of finite optical depth and a lower cloud layer of infinite optical depth at discrete altitudes are used to bound the wavelength-averaged phase integrals and bolometric albedos of Uranus and Neptune. The models differ in the assumed value of the particles single scattering phase function and the wavelength dependence of the haze optical depth. A range of phase functions, from the isotropic to those characterizing Titan, Jupiter, and Saturn atmosphere particles, are discussed. The results obtained imply that the meteorological regimes in the observable atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune may differ considerably; internal heat flux could play a much more important role for Neptune than for Uranus.