A hexagon in Saturn's northern stratosphere surrounding the emerging summertime polar vortex.

Saturn's polar stratosphere exhibits the seasonal growth and dissipation of broad, warm vortices poleward of ~75° latitude, which are strongest in the summer and absent in winter. The longevity of the exploration of the Saturn system by Cassini allows the use of infrared spectroscopy to trace the formation of the North Polar Stratospheric Vortex (NPSV), a region of enhanced temperatures and elevated hydrocarbon abundances at millibar pressures. We constrain the timescales of stratospheric vortex formation and dissipation in both hemispheres. Although the NPSV formed during late northern spring, by the end of Cassini's reconnaissance (shortly after northern summer solstice), it still did not display the contrasts in temperature and composition that were evident at the south pole during southern summer. The newly formed NPSV was bounded by a strengthening stratospheric thermal gradient near 78°N. The emergent boundary was hexagonal, suggesting that the Rossby wave responsible for Saturn's long-lived polar hexagon-which was previously expected to be trapped in the troposphere-can influence the stratospheric temperatures some 300 km above Saturn's clouds.

A new experimental setup for making thermal emission measurements in a simulated lunar environment.

One of the key problems in determining lunar surface composition for thermal-infrared measurements is the lack of comparable laboratory-measured spectra. As the surface is typically composed of fine-grained particulates, the lunar environment induces a thermal gradient within the near sub-surface, altering the emission spectra: this environment must therefore be simulated in the laboratory, considerably increasing the complexity of the measurement. Previous measurements have created this thermal gradient by either heating the cup in which the sample sits or by illuminating the sample using a solar-like source. This is the first setup able to measure in both configurations, allowing direct comparisons to be made between the two. Also, measurements across a wider spectral range and at a much higher spectral resolution can be acquired using this new setup. These are required to support new measurements made by the Diviner Lunar Radiometer, the first multi-spectral thermal-infrared instrument to orbit the Moon. Results from the two different heating methods are presented, with measurements of a fine-grained quartz sample compared to previous similar measurements, plus measurements of a common lunar highland material, anorthite. The results show that quartz gives the same results for both methods of heating, as predicted by previous studies, though the anorthite spectra are different. The new calibration pipeline required to convert the raw data into emissivity spectra is described also.

Temperature and composition of Saturn's polar hot spots and hexagon.

Saturn's poles exhibit an unexpected symmetry in hot, cyclonic polar vortices, despite huge seasonal differences in solar flux. The cores of both vortices are depleted in phosphine gas, probably resulting from subsidence of air into the troposphere. The warm cores are present throughout the upper troposphere and stratosphere at both poles. The thermal structure associated with the marked hexagonal polar jet at 77 degrees N has been observed for the first time. Both the warm cyclonic belt at 79 degrees N and the cold anticyclonic zone at 75 degrees N exhibit the hexagonal structure.

Titan's atmospheric temperatures, winds, and composition.

Temperatures obtained from early Cassini infrared observations of Titan show a stratopause at an altitude of 310 kilometers (and 186 kelvin at 15 degrees S). Stratospheric temperatures are coldest in the winter northern hemisphere, with zonal winds reaching 160 meters per second. The concentrations of several stratospheric organic compounds are enhanced at mid- and high northern latitudes, and the strong zonal winds may inhibit mixing between these latitudes and the rest of Titan. Above the south pole, temperatures in the stratosphere are 4 to 5 kelvin cooler than at the equator. The stratospheric mole fractions of methane and carbon monoxide are (1.6 +/- 0.5) x 10(-2) and (4.5 +/- 1.5) x 10(-5), respectively.

Temperatures, winds, and composition in the saturnian system.

Stratospheric temperatures on Saturn imply a strong decay of the equatorial winds with altitude. If the decrease in winds reported from recent Hubble Space Telescope images is not a temporal change, then the features tracked must have been at least 130 kilometers higher than in earlier studies. Saturn's south polar stratosphere is warmer than predicted from simple radiative models. The C/H ratio on Saturn is seven times solar, twice Jupiter's. Saturn's ring temperatures have radial variations down to the smallest scale resolved (100 kilometers). Diurnal surface temperature variations on Phoebe suggest a more porous regolith than on the jovian satellites.

Jupiter's atmospheric composition from the Cassini thermal infrared spectroscopy experiment.

The Composite Infrared Spectrometer observed Jupiter in the thermal infrared during the swing-by of the Cassini spacecraft. Results include the detection of two new stratospheric species, the methyl radical and diacetylene, gaseous species present in the north and south auroral infrared hot spots; determination of the variations with latitude of acetylene and ethane, the latter a tracer of atmospheric motion; observations of unexpected spatial distributions of carbon dioxide and hydrogen cyanide, both considered to be products of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts; characterization of the morphology of the auroral infrared hot spot acetylene emission; and a new evaluation of the energetics of the northern auroral infrared hot spot.

An intense stratospheric jet on Jupiter.

The Earth's equatorial stratosphere shows oscillations in which the east-west winds reverse direction and the temperatures change cyclically with a period of about two years. This phenomenon, called the quasi-biennial oscillation, also affects the dynamics of the mid- and high-latitude stratosphere and weather in the lower atmosphere. Ground-based observations have suggested that similar temperature oscillations (with a 4-5-yr cycle) occur on Jupiter, but these data suffer from poor vertical resolution and Jupiter's stratospheric wind velocities have not yet been determined. Here we report maps of temperatures and winds with high spatial resolution, obtained from spacecraft measurements of infrared spectra of Jupiter's stratosphere. We find an intense, high-altitude equatorial jet with a speed of approximately 140 m s(-1), whose spatial structure resembles that of a quasi-quadrennial oscillation. Wave activity in the stratosphere also appears analogous to that occurring on Earth. A strong interaction between Jupiter and its plasma environment produces hot spots in its upper atmosphere and stratosphere near its poles, and the temperature maps define the penetration of the hot spots into the stratosphere.

Radiometer for the measurement of water vapor in the upper atmosphere from space.

We describe the design, the development, and the calibration of a radiometer to measure water vapor abundance in the middle atmosphere, using the solar occultation technique from an orbiting platform. The use of gas cells containing water vapor and carbon dioxide leads to a relatively simple, but sensitive, design. This radiometer is shown to be capable of detecting water vapor in the mesosphere, where, because of dissociation by the Sun, the amounts are very small, of the order of 1 part per 10(6) or less. A flight version of the instrument will be launched in 1992 on board the European Retrievable Carrier space platform, and the data will be employed for a better understanding of the Earth's water budget.

Galileo infrared imaging spectroscopy measurements at venus.

During the 1990 Galileo Venus flyby, the Near Infaied Mapping Spectrometer investigated the night-side atmosphere of Venus in the spectral range 0.7 to 5.2 micrometers. Multispectral images at high spatial resolution indicate substanmial cloud opacity variations in the lower cloud levels, centered at 50 kilometers altitude. Zonal and meridional winds were derived for this level and are consistent with motion of the upper branch of a Hadley cell. Northern and southern hemisphere clouds appear to be markedly different. Spectral profiles were used to derive lower atmosphere abundances of water vapor and other species.