Patrick M. Fry

Solar and Thermal Radiation in Jupiter's Atmosphere: Initial Results of the Galileo Probe Net Flux Radiometer

The Galileo probe net flux radiometer measured radiation within Jupiters atmosphere over the 125-kilometer altitude range between pressures of 0.44 bar and 14 bars. Evidence for the expected ammonia cloud was seen in solar and thermal channels down to 0.5 to 0.6 bar. Between 0.6 and 10 bars large thermal fluxes imply very low gaseous opacities and provide no evidence for a deep water cloud. Near 8 bars the water vapor abundance appears to be about 10 percent of what would be expected for a solar abundance of oxygen. Below 8 bars, measurements suggest an increasing water abundance with depth or a deep cloud layer. Ammonia appears to follow a significantly subsaturated profile above 3 bars. Unexpectedly high absorption of sunlight was found at wavelengths greater than 600 nanometers.

Uranus at equinox: Cloud morphology and dynamics

Abstract As the 7 December 2007 equinox of Uranus approached, collaboration between ring and atmosphere observers in the summer and fall of 2007 produced a substantial collection of ground-based observations using the 10-m Keck telescope with adaptive optics and space-based observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. Both near-infrared and visible-wavelength imaging and spatially resolved near-infrared spectroscopic observations were obtained. We used observations spanning the period from 7 June 2007 through 9 September 2007 to identify and track cloud features, determine atmospheric motions, characterize cloud morphology and dynamics, and define changes in atmospheric band structure. Atmospheric motions were obtained over a wider range of latitudes than previously was possible, extending to 73°N, and for 28 cloud features we obtained extremely high wind-speed accuracy through extended tracking times. We confirmed the existence of the suspected northern hemisphere prograde jet, locating its peak near 58°N. The new results confirm a small N–S asymmetry in the zonal wind profile, and the lack of any change in the southern hemisphere between 1986 (near solstice) and 2007 (near equinox) suggests that the asymmetry may be permanent rather than seasonally reversing. In the 2007 images, we found two prominent groups of discrete cloud features with very long lifetimes. The one near 30°S has departed from its previous oscillatory motion and started a significant northward drift, accompanied by substantial morphological changes. The complex of features near 30°N remained at a nearly fixed latitude, while exhibiting some characteristics of a dark spot accompanied by bright companion features. Smaller and less stable features were used to track cloud motions at other latitudes, some of which lasted over many planet rotations, though many could not be tracked beyond a single transit. A bright band has developed near 45°N, while the bright band near 45°S has begun to decline, both events in agreement with the idea that the asymmetric band structure of Uranus is a delayed response to solar forcing, but with a surprisingly short delay of only a few years.

The nature of Neptune's increasing brightness: evidence for a seasonal response

Abstract Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations in August 2002 show that Neptune’s disk-averaged reflectivity increased significantly since 1996, by 3.2 ± 0.3% at 467 nm, 5.6 ± 0.6% at 673 nm, and 40 ± 4% in the 850–1000 nm band, which mainly results from dramatic brightness increases in restricted latitude bands. When 467-nm HST observations from 1994 to 2002 are added to the 472-nm ground-based results of Lockwood and Thompson (2002, Icarus 56, 37–51), the combined disk-averaged variation from 1972 to 2002 is consistent with a simple seasonal model having a hemispheric response delay relative to solar forcing of ∼30 years (∼73% of a full season).

DETECTION AND TRACKING OF SUBTLE CLOUD FEATURES ON URANUS

The recently updated Uranus zonal wind profile (Sromovsky et al.) samples latitudes from 71° S to 73° N. But many latitudes remain grossly undersampled (outside 20°-45° S and 20°-50° N) due to a lack of trackable cloud features. Offering some hope of filling these gaps is our recent discovery of low-contrast cloud that can be revealed by imaging at much higher signal-to-noise ratios (S/Ns) than previously obtained. This is demonstrated using an average of 2007 Keck II NIRC2 near-IR observations. Eleven one-minute H-band exposures, acquired over a 1.6 hr time span, were rectilinearly remapped and zonally shifted to account for planetary rotation. This increased the S/N by about a factor of 3.3. A new fine structure in latitude bands appeared, small previously unobservable cloud tracers became discernible, and some faint cloud features became prominent. While we could produce one such high-quality average, we could not produce enough to actually track the newly revealed features. This requires a specially designed observational effort. We have designed recent Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 F845M observations to allow application of the technique. We measured eight zonal winds by tracking features in these images and found that several fall off of the current zonal wind profile of Sromovsky et al., and are consistent with a partial reversal of their hemispherically asymmetric profile.

Satellite monitoring of smoke from the Kuwait oil fires

The smoke from the oil fires in Kuwait was easily visible in observations from weather satellites in polar and geosynchronous orbits. A portable work station provided these data for planning the National Center for Atmospheric Research and University of Washington research aircraft flights out of Bahrain during the Kuwait Oil-Fire Smoke Experiment. Meteosat visible and infrared satellite observations indicate that the smoke often traveled southeast along the west shore of the Persian Gulf as far as Bahrain, at which point it typically turned west or continued south toward the Arabian coast. The smoke was difficult to detect from satellite observations as it moved over water and at large distances from the source during the night from infrared observations. Also notable among the daily satellite images were the frequent, intense dust storms that seemed to form in Syria and northern Iraq and transport dust southeastward over Kuwait, and often to northwestern Saudi Arabia. Clouds were virtually absent during the months of May and June within the first several hundred kilometers along the plume direction. Surface temperatures in Bahrain during April and August 1991 were lower than average by as much as 1°–3.2°C, and are significant compared to the climatological variability of average minimum and mean temperatures for the summer months.

Cloud clearing in the wake of Saturn’s Great Storm of 2010–2011 and suggested new constraints on Saturn’s He/H2 ratio

Abstract Saturn’s Great Storm of 2010–2011 produced a planet-encircling wake that slowly transitioned from a region that was mainly dark at 5 µm in February 2011 to a region that was almost entirely bright and remarkably uniform by December of 2012. The uniformity and high emission levels suggested that the entire wake region had been cleared not only of the ammonia clouds that the storm had generated and exposed, but also of any other aerosols that might provide significant blocking of the thermal emission from Saturn’s deeper and warmer atmospheric layers. Our analysis of VIMS wake spectra from December 2012 provides no evidence of ammonia ice absorption, but shows that at least one significant cloud layer remained behind: a non-absorbing layer of 3–4 optical depths (at 2 µm) extending from 150 to ∼400 mbar. A second layer of absorbing and scattering particles, with less than 1 optical depth and located near 1 bar, is also suggested, but its existence as a model requirement depends on what value of the He/H 2 ratio is assumed. The observations can be fit well with just a single (upper) cloud layer for a He/H 2 ratio ≈ 0.064 in combination with a PH 3 deep volume mixing ratio of 5 ppm. At lower He/H 2 ratios, the observed spectra can be modeled without particles in this region. At higher ratios, in order to fit the brightest wake spectrum, models must include either significant cloud opacity in this region, or significantly increased absorption by PH 3 , NH 3 , and AsH 3 . As the exceptional horizontal uniformity in the late wake is most easily understood as a complete removal of a deep cloud layer, and after considering independent constraints on trace gas mixing ratios, we conclude that the existence of this remarkable wake uniformity is most consistent with a He/H 2 mixing ratio of 0.055 − 0.015 + 0.010 , which is on the low side of the 0.038–0.135 range of previous estimates.

Demonstration of Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) performance for planetary and geostationary earth observing

The combination of massively parallel spatial sampling and accurate spectral radiometry offered by imaging FTS makes it extremely attractive for earth and planetary remote sensing. We constructed a breadboard instrument to help assess the potential for planetary applications of small imaging FTS instruments in the 1-5 micrometers range. The results also support definition of the NASA Geostationary Imaging FTS instrument that will make key meteorological and climate observations from geostationary earth orbit. The PIFTS pivoting voice- coil delay scan mechanism, and laser diode metrology system. The interferometer optical output is measured by a commercial IR camera procured from Santa Barbara Focal plane. It uses an InSb 128 by 128 detector array that covers the entire FOV of the instrument when coupled with a 25-mm focal length commercial camera lens. With appropriate lenses and cold filters the instrument can be used from the visible to 5 micrometers . The delay scan is continuos, but slow, covering the maximum range of +/- 0.4 cm in 37.56 sec at a rate of 500 image frames per second. Image exposures are timed to be centered around predicted zero crossings. The design allows for prediction algorithms that account for the most recent fringe rate so that timing jitter produced by scan speed variations can be minimized. Response to a fixed source is linear with exposure time nearly to the point of saturation. Linearity with respect to input variations was demonstrated to within 0.16 percent using a 3-point blackbody calibration. Imaging of external complex scenes was carried out at low and high spectral resolution. These require full complex calibration to remove background contributions that vary dramatically over the instrument FOV. Testing is continuing to demonstrate the precise radiometric accuracy and noise characteristics.

Less absorbed solar energy and more internal heat for Jupiter.

The radiant energy budget and internal heat are fundamental properties of giant planets, but precise determination of these properties remains a challenge. Here, we report measurements of Jupiter’s radiant energy budget and internal heat based on Cassini multi-instrument observations. Our findings reveal that Jupiter’s Bond albedo and internal heat, 0.503 ± 0.012 and 7.485 ± 0.160 W m−2 respectively, are significantly larger than 0.343 ± 0.032 and 5.444 ± 0.425 Wm−2, the previous best estimates. The new results help constrain and improve the current evolutionary theories and models for Jupiter. Furthermore, the significant wavelength dependency of Jupiter’s albedo implies that the radiant energy budgets and internal heat of the other giant planets in our solar system should be re-examined. Finally, the data sets of Jupiter’s characteristics of reflective solar spectral irradiance provide an observational basis for the models of giant exoplanets.Radiant energy budgets and internal heat play a key role in the evolution of planets. Here, the authors analyze data from the Cassini mission to show that Jupiter’s radiant energy and internal heat budgets are significantly larger than previous estimates.

Saturn's Global Zonal Winds Explored by Cassini/VIMS 5‐μm Images

The Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) 5‐μm images are used to derive Saturns global zonal winds around the 2,000‐hPa level. The comparison of zonal winds between 2,000 and 300–500 hPa shows a general consistency of wind structure between the two pressure levels on a global scale. However at some latitudes, the magnitude of the zonal winds differs between these levels. The equatorial zonal winds are stronger downward, while the zonal winds in the middle and high latitudes are generally weaker downward. These new wind measurements also imply that barotropic and baroclinic instabilities probably exist through the relatively deep atmosphere at some latitudes. Finally, our analysis reveals that the VIMS winds in the two polar regions are basically constant with time except for a westerly jet centered at ~88°N, which decreased from 135 ± 7 m/s in 2008 to 91 ± 12 m/s in 2017.

Most detailed views ever of weather on Uranus

The secrets of weather on Uranus have been well preserved by its great distance from the sun and the apparent absence of discrete cloud features in its atmosphere. Even in 1986, when the Voyager 2 spacecraft arrived at Uranus after a journey of eight-and-a-half years, its close-up images were bland, revealing only eight discrete cloud features in hundreds of images.1 Tracking these few features established a crude profile of wind speed as a function of latitude, but only in the southern hemisphere, because the northern hemisphere was almost entirely in the dark. Eleven years later, images from the Hubble Space Telescope of Uranus at near-IR wavelengths revealed many more discrete cloud features and extended wind measurements into the northern hemisphere.2 More prolific still were ground-based observations from the Keck II telescope, which combined a large aperture, near-IR wavelengths, and adaptive optics to reap a bounty of cloud features far beyond what Hubble was able to produce.3–6 However, there remained gaps in the latitudinal coverage of wind measurements because some regions lacked good tracers of motion. To fill these gaps, we tried to detect low-contrast cloud features using special observing and processing methods to achieve very high signal to noise ratios.7 The results provided a new window into weather on Uranus. The Keck II telescope on the 14,000ft summit of Mauna Kea has a mirror 10m in diameter, which in space would produce an angular resolution of 0.043 (arc seconds) at 1.6 m, the wavelength of maximum cloud feature contrast. But even under good conditions, atmospheric turbulence limits angular resolution on the ground to about 0.5, which is about one-seventh the angular diameter of Uranus. Instead of plane waves entering the telescope, the turbulence-induced density variations distort the incoming light waves so that their angles of entry vary across the telescope aperture, leading to smeared images. Fortunately, Keck II has an excellent adaptive optics Figure 1. Effect of the Keck II Adaptive Optics (AO) system on Uranus image quality (left is AO off, right is AO on). Both images were taken with a filter centered at 1.6 m. Images courtesy of I. de Pater and H. Hammel.