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Twinkling Lights in the Nightside Upper Atmosphere: How Nightglow Contributes to our Understanding of Global Dynamics
Brecht, Amanda; Bougher, Stephen W.; Stiepen, Arnaud et al.
2015Comparative Climates of Terrestrial Planets II: Understanding How Climate Systems Work
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Keywords :
Nightglow; Mars; Venus; composition; dynamics; photochemistry
Abstract :
[en] Upper atmospheres of planets continuously emit photons in the UV, Visible, and IR regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Some of these emissions are classified as airglow, which includes dayglow and nightglow. There are several mechanisms to create these emissions, but this presentation will focus on nightglow emissions resulting from photochemistry of neutral components. These neutral components originate on the dayside and are transported from the dayside to the nightside of a planet, where they subsequently undergo chemical reactions yielding nightglow. Nightglow emissions serve as effective tracers for planetary middle and upper atmosphere global wind systems due to their variable peak brightness and spatial distributions. The main planetary focus for this presentation will be on Mars and Venus’ atmospheres, due to the similar chemical constituents which populate their upper atmospheres. Currently, NO UV nightglow has been observed (e.g. Venus Express, Mars Express) on both Venus and Mars, while O2 IR nightglow has only been observed on Venus but is predicted to be seen on Mars. The observations show variations in time and location (latitude, local time, and altitude). The locations of the maximum nightglow intensities on each planet are different, but are supportive of the general picture of these two planet’s global circulation patterns. Model implications for both nightglows on both planets can provide valuable insight and understanding of the dynamical and chemical processes creating the nightglow emission variability. Two three-dimensional general circulation models will be utilized: the Venus Thermospheric General Circulation Model (VTGCM) and the Mars Global Ionosphere-Thermosphere Model (MGITM). The model output will be compared to nightglow datasets for each planet individually and planet to planet, to contrast the variations of the nightglow features and the underlying drivers for those variations.
Disciplines :
Space science, astronomy & astrophysics
Author, co-author :
Brecht, Amanda
Bougher, Stephen W.
Stiepen, Arnaud ;  Université de Liège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Soret, Lauriane  ;  Université de Liège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Gérard, Jean-Claude  ;  Université de Liège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO)
Language :
English
Title :
Twinkling Lights in the Nightside Upper Atmosphere: How Nightglow Contributes to our Understanding of Global Dynamics
Publication date :
September 2015
Event name :
Comparative Climates of Terrestrial Planets II: Understanding How Climate Systems Work
Event organizer :
NASA Ames
Event date :
du 8 au 11 septembre 2015
By request :
Yes
Audience :
International
Peer reviewed :
Peer reviewed
Available on ORBi :
since 28 July 2015

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