Planets And Their Atmospheres

This work is addressed to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in astronomy, geology, chemistry, meteorology, and the planetary sciences as well as to researchers with pertinent areas of specialization who desire an introduction to the literature across the broad interdisciplinary range of this important topic. Extensive references to the pre-spacecraft literature will be particularly useful to readers interested in the historical development of the field during this century.

One of the most fundamental discoveries of the solar system was the detection of four moons in orbit around Jupiter by Galileo Galilei in 1610. The discovery was significant not only in the context of Jupiter; it gave credence to and was instrumental in firmly establishing the heliocentric system of Nicolaus Copernicus. Almost four centuries after Galileo's discovery, exten sive observations by the two Voyager spacecrafts have once again revolu tionized our thinking about the major planets, their composition, structure, origin, and evolution. This book is an attempt at summarizing our present understanding of the atmospheres and ionospheres in the outer solar system, with particular emphasis on the relevant physics and chemistry. I was motivat ed to prepare this manuscript for the following reasons. First, after under going rapid expansion in the recent past, the subject has finally attained suf ficient maturity to warrant a monograph of its own. Second, I have felt that as a result of recent observations, new and challenging problems have arisen whose resolution requires unconventional analysis and theoretical interpreta tion of existing data, as well as the collection of new kinds of data. I believe the time is ripe to put these issues in the appropriate scientific perspective, with the hope of stimulating novel theoretical, observational, and laboratory studies. I have highlighted the significant scientific problems throughout the book, especially at the end of each chapter.

This book reviews the current state of knowledge of the atmospheres of the giant gaseous planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The current theories of their formation are reviewed and their recently observed temperature, composition and cloud structures are contrasted and compared with simple thermodynamic, radiative transfer and dynamical models. The instruments and techniques that have been used to remotely measure their atmospheric properties are also reviewed, and the likely development of outer planet observations over the next two decades is outlined. This second edition has been extensively updated following the Cassini mission results for Jupiter/Saturn and the newest ground-based measurements for Uranus/Neptune as well as on the latest development in the theories on planet formation.

Planetary atmospheres is a relatively new, interdisciplinary subject that incorporates various areas of the physical and chemical sciences, including geophysics, geophysical fluid dynamics, atmospheric science, astronomy, and astrophysics. Providing a much-needed resource for this cross-disciplinary field, An Introduction to Planetary Atmospheres presents current knowledge on atmospheres and the fundamental mechanisms operating on them. The author treats the topics in a comparative manner among the different solar system bodies—what is known as comparative planetology. Based on an established course, this comprehensive text covers a panorama of solar system bodies and their relevant general properties. It explores the origin and evolution of atmospheres, along with their chemical composition and thermal structure. It also describes cloud formation and properties, mechanisms in thin and upper atmospheres, and meteorology and dynamics. Each chapter focuses on these atmospheric topics in the way classically done for the Earth’s atmosphere and summarizes the most important aspects in the field. The study of planetary atmospheres is fundamental to understanding the origin of the solar system, the formation mechanisms of planets and satellites, and the day-to-day behavior and evolution of Earth’s atmosphere. With many interesting real-world examples, this book offers a unified vision of the chemical and physical processes occurring in planetary atmospheres. Ancillaries are available at www.ajax.ehu.es/planetary_atmospheres/

An integrated discussion of the similarities and differences between the atmospheres of various bodies of the solar system, including the Earth.

This valuable reference presents detailed studies of eleven planetary atmospheres: four for the giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune), four for the small bodies (Io, Titan, Triton, and Pluto), and three for the terrestrial planets (Mars, Venus, and Earth). Also, using the database provided by recent space missions supplemented by Earth-based observations, the authors offer an extensive survey of the principal chemical cycles that control the present composition and past history of planetary atmospheres.

For advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in atmospheric, oceanic, and climate science, Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate Dynamics is an introductory textbook on the circulations of the atmosphere and ocean and their interaction, with an emphasis on global scales. It will give students a good grasp of what the atmosphere and oceans look like on the large-scale and why they look that way. The role of the oceans in climate and paleoclimate is also discussed. The combination of observations, theory and accompanying illustrative laboratory experiments sets this text apart by making it accessible to students with no prior training in meteorology or oceanography. * Written at a mathematical level that is appealing for undergraduates and beginning graduate students * Provides a useful educational tool through a combination of observations and laboratory demonstrations which can be viewed over the web * Contains instructions on how to reproduce the simple but informative laboratory experiments * Includes copious problems (with sample answers) to help students learn the material.