ATOMIC REACTIONS IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERES OF THE EARTH, MARS, AND VENUS
Photodissipation of molecular gases in planet atmospheres, by solar ultraviolet radiation, into atoms
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION↗
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Radio science investigations of the Saturn system with Voyager 1 - Preliminary results
Analyses of Voyager 1 radio occultation measurements of the Saturn atmosphere near 75 deg south latitude and of the Titan equatorial atmosphere are presented. Molecular nitrogen appears to be the primary atmospheric constituent of Titan, whose clouds are probably methane ice. Solar abundance considerations of the data suggest large quantities of surface methane near its triple-point temperature, so that the three phases of methane could play a role on Titan analogous to that of water on earth. Ionospheric electron concentration and plasma scale height for the Saturn polar cap and monochromatic attenuation of the Saturn rings are also considered, along with radio tracking figures for the masses of two moons, Rhea and Titan.
Tyler, G. L.↗
Molecular gas species in the lunar atmosphere
Evidence is presented from the data obtained by the Apollo 17 lunar mass spectrometer which indicates the presence of methane and perhaps very small amounts of ammonia and carbon dioxide in the lunar atmosphere. This evidence is based on predawn enhancement of the concentrations of the mass peaks at the parent position for these molecular gas compounds. Methane is shown to be the most abundant molecular gas, although its exceedingly low concentration (1000 mol/cu cm) is slightly less than that of Ar-36. Several reasons are considered for the very low concentration of methane in the lunar atmosphere.
Hoffman, J. H.↗
The fate of the hydroxyl radical in the earth's primitive atmosphere and implications for the production of molecular oxygen
Behavior of the hydroxyl radical produced by the photolysis of water vapor in the earth's early atmosphere is examined. Because of the substantial OH radical reactivity with trace species (CO, HCl, SO2, H2S, NH3, and CH4) the formation of molecular oxygen may be prevented, even at a trace species mixing ratio. The photolysis rate of H2O, with corrections for hydrogen exospheric escape, is capable of describing the oxidation of the atmosphere and crust but may not be used to determine the rate of molecular oxygen generation without consideration of the various OH-trace species reactions.
Vander Wood, T. B.↗
Shape of the 5 mm oxygen band in the atmosphere
The problem of absorption of microwaves by molecular oxygen in the atmosphere is treated by means of a first-order approximation to the impact theory of overlapping spectral lines. By including only the coupling between adjacent rotational states in molecular collisions, we have devised a simple approximate method for computing the interference between lines from measurements on the resolved lines. The need for an empirically determined function describing the linewidth/pressure ratio is eliminated. Comparisons with measurements at atmospheric pressures show that the first-order interference accounts for the low absorption at the band wings near 1 atm pressure. It also predicts the correct amount of asymmetry between high and low frequency wings.
Source record↗
Effect of molecular anisotropy on the intensity and degree of polarization of light scattered from model atmospheres
Computations of the intensity, flux, degree of polarization, and the positions of neutral points are presented for models of the terrestrial gaseous and hazy atmospheres by incorporating the molecular anisotropy due to air in the Rayleigh scattering optical thickness and phase matrix. Molecular anisotropy causes significant changes in the intensity, flux and the degree of polarization of the scattered light. The positions of neutral points do not change significantly. When the Rayleigh scattering optical thickness is kept constant and the molecular anisotropy factor is included only in the Rayleigh phase matrix, the flux does not change and the intensity and positions of neutron points change by a small amount. The changes in the degree of polarization are still significant.
Bahethi, O. P.↗
High Resolution Spectroscopy to Support Atmospheric Measurements
Spectroscopic parameters (such as line position, intensity, broadening and shifting coefficients and their temperature dependences, line mixing coefficients etc.) for various molecular species of atmospheric interest are determined. In order to achieve these results, infrared spectra of several molecular bands are obtained using high-resolution recording instruments such as tunable diode laser spectrometer and Fourier transform spectrometers. Using sophisticated analysis routines (Multispectrum nonlinear least squares technique) these high-resolution infrared spectra are processed to determine the various spectral line parameters that are cited above. Spectra were taken using the McMath-Pierce Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) at the National Solar Observatory on Kitt Peak, Arizona as well as the Bruker FTS at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) at Richland, Washington. Most of the spectra are acquired not only at room temperature, but also at several different cold temperatures. This procedure is necessary to study the variation of the spectral line parameters as a function of temperature in order to simulate the Earth's and other planetary atmospheric environments. Depending upon the strength or weakness of the various bands recorded and analyzed, the length(s) of the absorption cells in which the gas samples under study are kept varied from a few centimeters up to several meters and the sample temperatures varied from approximately +30 C to -63 C. Research on several infrared bands of various molecular species and their isotopomers are undertaken. Those studies are briefly described.
Venkataraman, Malathy Devi↗
New observations of molecular nitrogen in the Martian upper atmosphere by IUVS on MAVEN
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M. H. Stevens↗
Molecular column densities in selected model atmospheres
From an examination of predicted column densities, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) The SiO ought to be visible in carbon stars which were generated from triple alpha burning, but absent from carbon stars generated from the CNO bi-cycle. (2) Variation in the observed relative strengths of TiO and ZrO is indicative of real differences in the ratio Ti/Zr. (3) The TiO/ZrO ratio shows a small variation as C/O and effective temperature is changed. (4) Column density of silicon dicarbide (SiC2) is sensitive to abundance, temperature, and gravity; hence all relationships between the strength of SiC2 and other stellar parameters will show appreciable scatter. There is however, a substantial luminosity effect present in the SiC2 column densities. (5) Unexpectedly, SiC2 is anti-correlated with C2. (6) The presence of SiC2 in a carbon star eliminates the possibility of these stars having temperatures greater than or equal to 3000 K, or being produced through the CNO bi-cycle.
Johnson, H. R.↗
Theoretical study of atomic and molecular gases and their reactions in the upper atmosphere Semiannual report, Nov. 1, 1965 - Apr. 30, 1966
Theoretical studies of atomic and molecular gases
MOLECULAR GAS↗
Titan
Saturn's satellite Titan is the second-largest in the solar system. Its dense atmosphere is mostly molecular nitrogen with an admixture of methane, a surface pressure of 1.5 bars and a surface temperature of 94K. The fundamental driving force in the long-term evolution of Titan's atmosphere is the photolysis of methane in the stratosphere to form higher hydrocarbons and aerosols. The current rate of photolysis and undersaturation of methane in the lower troposphere suggests the presence of a massive ethane-methane-nitrogen ocean. The ocean evolves to a more ethane-rich state over geologic time, driving changes in the atmospheric thermal structure. An outstanding issue concerning Titan's earliest history is the origin of atmospheric nitrogen: was it introduced into Titan as molecular nitrogen or ammonia? Measurement of the argon-to-nitrogen ratio in the present atmosphere provides a diagnostic test of these competing hypotheses. Many of the questions raised by the Voyager encounters about Titan and its atmosphere can be adequately addressed only by an entry probe, such as that planned for the Cassini mission.
Lunine, Jonathan I.↗
Research related to measurements of atomic species in the earth's upper atmosphere Quarterly report
Atomic-molecular oxygen ratio and recombination rates at upper atmospheric pressures
ATOMIC RECOMBINATION↗
High resolution atmospheric transmission calculations down to 28.7 km in the 200-243-nm spectral range
Decrease in stratospheric ozone absorption and increase in oxygen absorption with decreasing wavelength combine to produce a window of maximum atmospheric transmission near 210 nm. Since solar radiation in this spectral region dissociates molecular oxygen, the deep atmospheric penetration at this wavelength is of particular aeronomical interest. High resolution calculations of the transmittance down to 28.65 km were made for the 200-243-nm spectral range in this window region, in support of a stratospheric balloon flight from Fort Churchill in July 1974. The calculations were made by dividing the atmosphere into layers which were chosen so that each could be assumed homogeneous; optical depths were calculated separately for each of these layers and then summed to obtain the over-all transmittance of the atmosphere. Absorption by molecular oxygen (line and continuum) and by ozone was included, as well as extinction through Rayleigh scattering by air molecules. The calculated transmittances were combined with high altitude (above 100-km) rocket measurements of the sun-center spectrum and center-to-limb variations to give residual high resolution solar spectral flux for several altitudes and solar zenith angles.
Cann, M. W. P.↗
Airborne laser-radar studies of the lower atmosphere
Airborne laser radar studies of molecular and aerosol density of lower atmosphere
Melfi, S. H.↗
Thermal and humidity winds in outer planet atmospheres
Among the dynamical consequences of molecular weight variations due to condensation in hydrogen atmospheres is the creation of geostrophic wind variations by horizontal variations in molecular weight. In the present illustrative model, it is shown that such horizontal gradients are generated by methane condensation in the cases of the Uranus and Neptune atmospheres. As a result, the zonal wind shear is different in both magnitude and direction from the value determined while neglecting molecular weight variations. The horizontal molecular weight gradients due to condensation of minor constituents also vertically shear the zonal wind, giving rise to what may be termed the 'humidity wind'.
Sun, Zi-Ping↗
Infrared spectra of planetary atmospheres
The development of high spectral resolution and highly sensitive long infrared wavelength instruments is reported. This instrumentation is used to examine molecular lines in planetary atmospheres in enough detail to obtain new information about these atmospheres. Such information includes (1) pressure and temperature relations in planetary atmospheres, and (2) molecular and isotopic composition.
Townes, C. H.↗
Self-consistent Non-LTE Model of Infrared Molecular Emissions and Oxygen Dayglows in the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere
We present the new version of the ALI-ARMS (for Accelerated Lambda Iterations for Atmospheric Radiation and Molecular Spectra) model. The model allows simultaneous self-consistent calculating the non-LTE populations of the electronic-vibrational levels of the O3 and O2 photolysis products and vibrational level populations of CO2, N2,O2, O3, H2O, CO and other molecules with detailed accounting for the variety of the electronic-vibrational, vibrational-vibrational and vibrational-translational energy exchange processes. The model was used as the reference one for modeling the O2 dayglows and infrared molecular emissions for self-consistent diagnostics of the multi-channel space observations of MLT in the SABER experiment It also allows reevaluating the thermalization efficiency of the absorbed solar ultraviolet energy and infrared radiative cooling/heating of MLT by detailed accounting of the electronic-vibrational relaxation of excited photolysis products via the complex chain of collisional energy conversion processes down to the vibrational energy of optically active trace gas molecules.
Feofilov, Artem G.↗
The 1995 Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) Linelist
The Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) experiment uses a Fourier transform spectrometer on board the space shuttle to record infrared solar occultation spectra of the atmosphere. Described are the current version of the molecular spectroscopic database used for the analysis of the data obtained during three Space Shuttle missions between 1992 and 1994.
molecular database↗