NSF/AFOSR Astronomy: Spatial and Temporal Variations in the Atmospheric Aerosol Content of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn

土星、木星和火星大气层内的时间变异性将通过使用AEOS 3.67米自适应光学望远镜的正在进行的高空间分辨率图像收集计划来研究。窄带通滤光片针对巨大行星大气中的高度分辨进行了优化，AEOS仪器已经提供了滤光片，将用于区分所有三个行星大气中的气溶胶，并研究火星表面的反射特性。目前围绕火星运行的航天器每天提供整个星球的太阳同步图像，但不提供大多数地点的时间信息。AEOS图像是在该设施正常运行的短时间窗口内收集的，将有助于确定一天中时间变化的重要性，这体现在地面扬尘和/或对流扬尘向风速较大的高海拔地区。这是对轨道器提供的有限时间全球视角的补充。对这颗巨大行星的大气层，特别是其气溶胶分布进行长期的时间线监测，将有助于更好地了解这些大气层的动态。由于怀疑土星上的大型风暴事件是季节性驱动的，在南夏至附近的这段时间内进行监测(土星上最近的对流风暴发生在北夏至附近)可能会提供一种预测能力，如果未来几年发生任何风暴事件的话。长时间的覆盖将使研究人员能够回顾数据集，并搜索以前未被识别的土星大气对流活动的前兆特征。

Time variability within the atmospheres of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars will be investigated via an ongoing high spatial resolution image collection program employing the AEOS 3.67-meter adaptive optics telescope. Narrow bandpass filters, which are optimized for altitude discrimination in the giant planet atmospheres, and filters already available with the AEOS instrument, will be utilized to discriminate aerosols in all three planetary atmospheres and study surface reflectance characteristics on Mars. Current spacecraft orbiting Mars provide a sun-synchronous view of the entire planet each day, but do not provide time-of-day information at most locations. The AEOS images, collected within short windows of opportunity amongst the normal operations of the facility, will enable the determination of the importance of time-of-day variations as manifested by surface dust lifting and/or convective dust lofting to high altitudes where wind speeds are large. This complements the limited time-of-day global view provided by the orbiters. Long timeline monitoring of the giant planet atmospheres, specifically their aerosol distribution, will assist in better understanding the dynamics of these atmospheres. With the suspected seasonal driving of large storm events on Saturn, monitoring during this time period near southern summer solstice (the most recent convective storm on Saturn occurred near northern summer solstice) might provide a 'forecast' capability, should any storm event occur in the next several years. Long temporal coverage will enable the investigators to look back into the data set and search for previously unrecognized precursor signatures of convective activity in Saturn's atmosphere.