Preseismic lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere coupling

Saturn: atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere.

The Cassini spacecraft has been in orbit around Saturn since 30 June 2004, yielding a wealth of data about the Saturn system. This review focuses on the atmosphere and magnetosphere and briefly outlines the state of our knowledge after the Cassini prime mission. The mission has addressed a host of fundamental questions: What processes control the physics, chemistry, and dynamics of the atmosphe...

Inductive magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling

Inductive coupling of a global magnetospheric model to a global ionospheric–thermospheric model is described. Existing schemes based on electrostatic coupling are valid for magnetospheric variability occurring on time scales of order 100 s or longer. The formulation developed here extends the validity of the coupling model to time scales of order 10 s, while retaining the physics of quasi-stati...

Photochemistry of Triton's atmosphere and ionosphere.

The photochemistry of 32 neutral and 21 ion species in Triton's atmosphere is considered. Parent species N2, CH4, and CO (with a mixing ratio of 3 x 10(-4) in our basic model) sublime from the ice with rates of 40, 208, and 0.3 g/cm2/b.y., respectively. Chemistry below 50 km is driven mostly by photolysis of methane by the solar and interstellar medium Lyman-alpha photons, producing hydrocarbon...

Ionosphere and Upper Atmosphere Research with Radars

The Atmosphere and Ionosphere of Jupiter

The properties of the atmosphere of Jupiter are reviewed in the light of observations carried out by the Voyager mission. Solar occultation measurements in the ultraviolet show that the temperature of the upper atmosphere is II00±200K, an apparent increase of about 30% from the value obtained by the Pioneer mission in 1973. Stellar occultation in the ultraviolet indicate that the temperature gr...