Nicholas A. Teanby

Mars Climate Sounder limb profile retrieval of atmospheric temperature, pressure, and dust and water ice opacity

The Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is the latest of a series of investigations devoted to improving the understanding of current Martian climate. MCS is a nine-channel passive midinfrared and far-infrared filter radiometer designed to measure thermal emission in limb and on-planet geometries from which vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature, water vapor, dust, and condensates can be retrieved. Here we describe the algorithm that is used to retrieve atmospheric profiles from MCS limb measurements for delivery to the Planetary Data System. The algorithm is based on a modified Chahine method and uses a fast radiative transfer scheme based on the Curtis-Godson approximation. It retrieves pressure and vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature, dust opacity, and water ice opacity. Water vapor retrievals involve a different approach and will be reported separately. Pressure can be retrieved to a precision of 1–2% and is used to establish the vertical coordinate. Temperature profiles are retrieved over a range from 5–10 to 80–90 km altitude with a typical altitude resolution of 4–6 km and a precision between 0.5 and 2 K over most of this altitude range. Dust and water ice opacity profiles also achieve vertical resolutions of about 5 km and typically have precisions of 10^(−4)–10^(−5) km^(−1) at 463 cm^(−1) and 843 cm^(−1), respectively. Examples of temperature profiles as well as dust and water ice opacity profiles from the first year of the MCS mission are presented, and atmospheric features observed during periods employing different MCS operational modes are described. An intercomparison with historical temperature measurements from the Mars Global Surveyor mission shows good agreement.

Structure and dynamics of the Martian lower and middle atmosphere as observed by the Mars Climate Sounder: Seasonal variations in zonal mean temperature, dust, and water ice aerosols

[1] The first Martian year and a half of observations by the Mars Climate Sounder aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed new details of the thermal structure and distributions of dust and water ice in the atmosphere. The Martian atmosphere is shown in the observations by the Mars Climate Sounder to vary seasonally between two modes: a symmetrical equinoctial structure with middle atmosphere polar warming and a solstitial structure with an intense middle atmosphere polar warming overlying a deep winter polar vortex. The dust distribution, in particular, is more complex than appreciated before the advent of these high (∼5 km) vertical resolution observations, which extend from near the surface to above 80 km and yield 13 dayside and 13 nightside pole-to-pole cross sections each day. Among the new features noted is a persistent maximum in dust mass mixing ratio at 15-25 km above the surface (at least on the nightside) during northern spring and summer. The water ice distribution is very sensitive to the diurnal and seasonal variation of temperature and is a good tracer of the vertically propagating tide.

Truncated myosin XI tail fusions inhibit peroxisome, Golgi, and mitochondrial movement in tobacco leaf epidermal cells: a genetic tool for the next generation

Although organelle movement in higher plants is predominantly actin-based, potential roles for the 17 predicted Arabidopsis myosins in motility are only just emerging. It is shown here that two Arabidopsis myosins from class XI, XIE, and XIK, are involved in Golgi, peroxisome, and mitochondrial movement. Expression of dominant negative forms of the myosin lacking the actin binding domain at the amino terminus perturb organelle motility, but do not completely inhibit movement. Latrunculin B, an actin destabilizing drug, inhibits organelle movement to a greater extent compared to the effects of AtXIE-T/XIK-T expression. Amino terminal YFP fusions to XIE-T and XIK-T are dispersed throughout the cytosol and do not completely decorate the organelles whose motility they affect. XIE-T and XIK-T do not affect the global actin architecture, but their movement and location is actin-dependent. The potential role of these truncated myosins as genetically encoded inhibitors of organelle movement is discussed.

Temperature and Composition of Saturn's Polar Hot Spots and Hexagon

Saturns poles exhibit an unexpected symmetry in hot, cyclonic polar vortices, despite huge seasonal differences in solar flux. The cores of both vortices are depleted in phosphine gas, probably resulting from subsidence of air into the troposphere. The warm cores are present throughout the upper troposphere and stratosphere at both poles. The thermal structure associated with the marked hexagonal polar jet at 77°N has been observed for the first time. Both the warm cyclonic belt at 79°N and the cold anticyclonic zone at 75°N exhibit the hexagonal structure.

Isotopic Ratios in Titan's Methane: Measurements and Modeling

The existence of methane in Titan’s atmosphere (∼ 6% level at the surface) presents a unique enigma, as photochemical models predict that the current inventory will be entirely depleted by photochemistry in a timescale of ∼20 Myr. In this paper, we examine the clues available from isotopic ratios ( 12 C/ 13 C and D/H) in Titan’s methane as to the past atmosphere history of this species. We first analyze recent infrared spectra of CH4 collected by the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer, measuring simultaneously for the first time the abundances of all three detected minor isotopologues: 13 CH4, 12 CH3D, and 13 CH3D. From these we compute estimates of 12 C/ 13 C = 86.5 ± 8.2 and D/H = (1.59 ± 0.33) × 10 −4 , in agreement with recent results from the Huygens GCMS and Cassini INMS instruments. We also use the transition state theory to estimate the fractionation that occurs in carbon and hydrogen during a critical reaction that plays a key role in the chemical depletion of Titan’s methane: CH4 +C 2H → CH3 +C 2H2. Using these new measurements and predictions we proceed to model the time evolution of 12 C/ 13 C and D/H in Titan’s methane under several prototypical replenishment scenarios. In our Model 1 (no resupply of CH4), we find that the present-day 12 C/ 13 C implies that the CH4 entered the atmosphere 60–1600 Myr ago if methane is depleted by chemistry and photolysis alone, but much more recently—most likely less than 10 Myr ago—if hydrodynamic escape is also occurring. On the other hand, if methane has been continuously supplied at the replenishment rate then the isotopic ratios provide no constraints, and likewise for the case where atmospheric methane is increasing. We conclude by discussing how these findings may be combined with other evidence to constrain the overall history of the atmospheric methane.

Active upper-atmosphere chemistry and dynamics from polar circulation reversal on Titan

Saturn’s moon Titan has a nitrogen atmosphere comparable to Earth’s, with a surface pressure of 1.4 bar. Numerical models reproduce the tropospheric conditions very well but have trouble explaining the observed middle-atmosphere temperatures, composition and winds. The top of the middle-atmosphere circulation has been thought to lie at an altitude of 450 to 500 kilometres, where there is a layer of haze that appears to be separated from the main haze deck. This ‘detached’ haze was previously explained as being due to the co-location of peak haze production and the limit of dynamical transport by the circulation’s upper branch. Here we report a build-up of trace gases over the south pole approximately two years after observing the 2009 post-equinox circulation reversal, from which we conclude that middle-atmosphere circulation must extend to an altitude of at least 600 kilometres. The primary drivers of this circulation are summer-hemisphere heating of haze by absorption of solar radiation and winter-hemisphere cooling due to infrared emission by haze and trace gases; our results therefore imply that these effects are important well into the thermosphere (altitudes higher than 500 kilometres). This requires both active upper-atmosphere chemistry, consistent with the detection of high-complexity molecules and ions at altitudes greater than 950 kilometres, and an alternative explanation for the detached haze, such as a transition in haze particle growth from monomers to fractal structures.

Dynamical implications of seasonal and spatial variations in Titan's stratospheric composition

Titans diverse inventory of photochemically produced gases can be used as tracers to probe atmospheric circulation. Since the arrival of the Cassini–Huygens mission in July 2004 it has been possible to map the seasonal and spatial variations of these compounds in great detail. Here, we use 3.5 years of data measured by the Cassini Composite InfraRed Spectrometer instrument to determine spatial and seasonal composition trends, thus providing clues to underlying atmospheric motions. Titans North Pole (currently in winter) displays enrichment of trace species, implying subsidence is occurring there. This is consistent with the descending branch of a single south-to-north stratospheric circulation cell and a polar vortex. Lack of enrichment in the south over most of the observed time period argues against the presence of any secondary circulation cell in the Southern Polar stratosphere. However, a residual cap of enriched gas was observed over the South Pole early in the mission, which has since completely dissipated. This cap was most probably due to residual build-up from southern winter. These observations provide new and important constraints for models of atmospheric photochemistry and circulation.

SEASONAL CHANGES IN TITAN'S POLAR TRACE GAS ABUNDANCE OBSERVED BY CASSINI

We use a six-year data set (2004-2010) of mid-infrared spectra measured by Cassinis Composite InfraRed Spectrometer to search for seasonal variations in Titans atmospheric temperature and composition. During most of Cassinis mission Titans northern hemisphere has been in winter, with an intense stratospheric polar vortex highly enriched in trace gases, and a single south-to-north circulation cell. Following northern spring equinox in mid-2009, dramatic changes in atmospheric temperature and composition were expected, but until now the temporal coverage of polar latitudes has been too sparse to discern trends. Here, we show that during equinox and post-equinox periods, abundances of trace gases at both poles have begun to increase. We propose that increases in north polar trace gases are due to a seasonal reduction in gas depletion by horizontal mixing across the vortex boundary. A simultaneous south polar abundance increase suggests that Titan is now entering, or is about to enter, a transitional circulation regime with two branches, rather than the single branch circulation pattern previously observed.

An icosahedron-based method for even binning of globally distributed remote sensing data

A new scheme is presented for binning globally distributed measurements. The scheme is based on a network of evenly distributed grid points, defined by repeated subdivision of a spherical icosahedron. Delanuany triangulation is then used to obtain bin perimeters for each grid point, which results in a network of bins that are evenly distributed across the entire globe and have uniform area. A modified winding rule is used to determine which datapoints are in which bin. This binning method is especially suited to remote sensing applications involving datasets covering polar regions, where conventional rectangular latitude/longitude bins introduce distortion and streaking into the binned data if noise is present. It also has the property that adjacent bins overlap, providing Nyquist sampling and preventing spatial aliasing. Tests on synthetic data show that this icosahedral binning scheme preserves underlying data trends and is robust to noise.

HCN ice in Titan’s high-altitude southern polar cloud

Titan’s middle atmosphere is currently experiencing a rapid change of season after northern spring arrived in 2009 (refs 1, 2). A large cloud was observed for the first time above Titan’s southern pole in May 2012, at an altitude of 300 kilometres. A temperature maximum was previously observed there, and condensation was not expected for any of Titan’s atmospheric gases. Here we report that this cloud is composed of micrometre-sized particles of frozen hydrogen cyanide (HCN ice). The presence of HCN particles at this altitude, together with temperature determinations from mid-infrared observations, indicate a dramatic cooling of Titan’s atmosphere inside the winter polar vortex in early 2012. Such cooling is in contrast to previously measured high-altitude warming in the polar vortex, and temperatures are a hundred degrees colder than predicted by circulation models. These results show that post-equinox cooling at the winter pole of Titan is much more efficient than previously thought.