36 results on '"T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia"'
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2. An enduring rapidly moving storm as a guide to Saturn’s Equatorial jet’s complex structure
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A. Sánchez-Lavega, E. García-Melendo, S. Pérez-Hoyos, R. Hueso, M. H. Wong, A. Simon, J. F. Sanz-Requena, A. Antuñano, N. Barrado-Izagirre, I. Garate-Lopez, J. F. Rojas, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, J. M. Gómez-Forrellad, I. de Pater, L. Li, and T. Barry
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Science - Abstract
The origin, variability, and structure of Saturn’s intense and broad eastward equatorial jet at upper cloud level are complex and unexplained. Here, based on observations of a large, bright equatorial disturbance in 2015, the authors characterise the vertical structure of the jet and its long-term variability.
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- 2016
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3. Interaction of Saturn’s Hexagon with Convective Storms
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A Sánchez-Lavega, E García-Melendo, T del Río-Gaztelurrutia, R Hueso, A Simon, M H Wong, K Ahrens-Velásquez, M Soria, T Barry, C Go, and C Foster
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Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration - Abstract
In March 2020 a convective storm erupted at planetographic latitude 76°N in the southern flank of Saturn’s long-lived hexagonal wave. The storm reached a zonal size of 4,500 km and developed a tail extending zonally 33,000 km. Two new short-lived storms erupted in May in the hexagon edge. These storms formed after the convective storms that took place in 2018 in nearby latitudes. There were no noticeable changes in the zonal profile of Saturn's polar winds in 2018-2020. Measurements of the longitude position of the vertices of the hexagon throughout this period yield a value for its period of rotation equal to that of System III of radio-rotation measured at the time of Voyagers. We report changes in the hexagon clouds related to the activity of the storms. Our study reinforces the idea that Saturn’s hexagon is a well rooted structure with a possible direct relationship with the bulk rotation of the planet.
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- 2021
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4. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer, MEDA. A Suite of Environmental Sensors for the Mars 2020 Mission
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J. A. Rodriguez-Manfredi, M. de la Torre Juárez, A. Alonso, V. Apéstigue, I. Arruego, T. Atienza, D. Banfield, J. Boland, M. A. Carrera, L. Castañer, J. Ceballos, H. Chen-Chen, A. Cobos, P. G. Conrad, E. Cordoba, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, A. de Vicente-Retortillo, M. Domínguez-Pumar, S. Espejo, A. G. Fairen, A. Fernández-Palma, R. Ferrándiz, F. Ferri, E. Fischer, A. García-Manchado, M. García-Villadangos, M. Genzer, S. Giménez, J. Gómez-Elvira, F. Gómez, S. D. Guzewich, A.-M. Harri, C. D. Hernández, M. Hieta, R. Hueso, I. Jaakonaho, J. J. Jiménez, V. Jiménez, A. Larman, R. Leiter, A. Lepinette, M. T. Lemmon, G. López, S. N. Madsen, T. Mäkinen, M. Marín, J. Martín-Soler, G. Martínez, A. Molina, L. Mora-Sotomayor, J. F. Moreno-Álvarez, S. Navarro, C. E. Newman, C. Ortega, M. C. Parrondo, V. Peinado, A. Peña, I. Pérez-Grande, S. Pérez-Hoyos, J. Pla-García, J. Polkko, M. Postigo, O. Prieto-Ballesteros, S. C. R. Rafkin, M. Ramos, M. I. Richardson, J. Romeral, C. Romero, K. D. Runyon, A. Saiz-Lopez, A. Sánchez-Lavega, I. Sard, J. T. Schofield, E. Sebastian, M. D. Smith, R. J. Sullivan, L. K. Tamppari, A. D. Thompson, D. Toledo, F. Torrero, J. Torres, R. Urquí, T. Velasco, D. Viúdez-Moreiras, and S. Zurita
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Space Sciences (General) - Abstract
NASA’s Mars 2020 (M2020) rover mission includes a suite of sensors to monitor current environmental conditions near the surface of Mars and to constrain bulk aerosol properties from changes in atmospheric radiation at the surface. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) consists of a set of meteorological sensors including wind sensor, a barometer, a relative humidity sensor, a set of 5 thermocouples to measure atmospheric temperature at ∼1.5 m and ∼0.5 m above the surface, a set of thermopiles to characterize the thermal IR brightness temperatures of the surface and the lower atmosphere. MEDA adds a radiation and dust sensor to monitor the optical atmospheric properties that can be used to infer bulk aerosol physical properties such as particle size distribution, non-sphericity, and concentration. The MEDA package and its scientific purpose are described in this document as well as how it responded to the calibration tests and how it helps prepare for the human exploration of Mars. A comparison is also presented to previous environmental monitoring payloads landed on Mars on the Viking, Pathfinder, Phoenix, MSL, and InSight spacecraft.
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- 2021
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5. A Complex Storm System in Saturn's North Polar Atmosphere in 2018
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A Sánchez-Lavega, E García-Melendo, J Legarreta, R Hueso, T del Río-Gaztelurrutia, J F Sanz-Requena, S Pérez-Hoyos, A A Simon, M H Wong, M Soria, J M Gómez-Forrellad, T Barry, M Delcroix, K M Sayanagi, J J Blalock, J L Gunnarson, U Dyudina, and S Ewald
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Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration - Abstract
Saturn’s convective storms usually fall in two categories. One consists of mid-sized storms ~ 2,000 km wide, appearing as irregular bright cloud systems that evolve rapidly, on scales of a few days. The other includes the exceptional Great White Spots (GWS), planetary-scale giant storms that disturb a full latitude band, and which have been observed only seven times. Here we report a new intermediate type, observed in 2018 in the North Polar Region. Four large storms (the first one lasting longer than 200 days) formed sequentially in close latitudes, experiencing mutual encounters, and leading to zonal disturbances affecting a full latitude band ~ 8,000 km wide, during at least 8 months. Dynamical simulations indicate that each storm required energies ~ 100 times smaller than those necessary for a GWS. This event occurred at about the same latitude and season as the GWS in 1960, in close correspondence with the cycle of approximately 60 years hypothesized for equatorial GWSs.
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- 2019
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6. Convective vortices and dust devils detected and characterized by Mars 2020
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R. Hueso, C. E. Newman, T. del Río‐Gaztelurrutia, A. Munguira, A. Sánchez‐Lavega, D. Toledo, V. Apéstigue, I. Arruego, A. Vicente‐Retortillo, G. Martínez, M. Lemmon, R. Lorenz, M. Richardson, D. Viudez‐Moreiras, M. de la Torre‐Juarez, J. A. Rodríguez‐Manfredi, L. K. Tamppari, N. Murdoch, S. Navarro‐López, J. Gómez‐Elvira, M. Baker, J. Pla‐García, A. M. Harri, M. Hieta, M. Genzer, J. Polkko, I. Jaakonaho, T. Makinen, A. Stott, D. Mimoun, B. Chide, E. Sebastian, D. Banfield, and A. Lepinette‐Malvite
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Geophysics ,Space and Planetary Science ,Geochemistry and Petrology ,dust devils ,Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) ,Mars ,MEDA ,Jezero - Abstract
We characterize vortex and dust devils (DDs) at Jezero from pressure and winds obtained with the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) instrument on Mars 2020 over 415 Martian days (sols) (Ls = 6°–213°). Vortices are abundant (4.9 per sol with pressure drops >0.5 Pa correcting from gaps in coverage) and they peak at noon. At least one in every five vortices carries dust, and 75% of all vortices with Δp > 2.0 Pa are dusty. Seasonal variability was small but DDs were abundant during a dust storm (Ls = 152°–156°). Vortices are more frequent and intense over terrains with lower thermal inertia favoring high daytime surface-to-air temperature gradients. We fit measurements of winds and pressure during DD encounters to models of vortices. We obtain vortex diameters that range from 5 to 135 m with a mean of 20 m, and from the frequency of close encounters we estimate a DD activity of 2.0–3.0 DDs km−2 sol−1. A comparison of MEDA observations with a Large Eddy Simulation of Jezero at Ls = 45° produces a similar result. Three 100-m size DDs passed within 30 m of the rover from what we estimate that the activity of DDs with diameters >100 m is 0.1 DDs km−2sol−1, implying that dust lifting is dominated by the largest vortices in Jezero. At least one vortex had a central pressure drop of 9.0 Pa and internal winds of 25 ms−1. The MEDA wind sensors were partially damaged during two DD encounters whose characteristics we elaborate in detail. The authors are very grateful to the entire Mars 2020 science operations team. The authors would also like to thank Lori Fenton and an anonymous reviewer for many suggestions that greatly improved the manuscript. This work was supported by Grant PID2019-109467GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and by Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT1742-22 and by the Spanish National Research, Development and Innovation Program, through the Grants RTI2018-099825-B-C31, ESP2016-80320-C2-1-R, and ESP2014-54256-C4-3-R. Baptiste Chide is supported by the Director's Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Los Alamos National Laboratory. M. Lemmon is supported by contract 15-712 from Arizona State University and 1607215 from Caltech-JPL. R. Lorenz was supported by JPL contract 1655893. Germán Martínez acknowledges JPL funding from USRA Contract Number 1638782. A. Munguira was supported by Grant PRE2020-092562 funded by MCIN/AEI and by “ESF Investing in your future.” A. Vicente-Retortillo is supported by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) Project No. MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu”-Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), and by the Comunidad de Madrid Project S2018/NMT-4291 (TEC2SPACE-CM). Part of the research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). Finnish researchers acknowledge the Academy of Finland Grant 328 310529. Researchers based in France acknowledge support from the CNES for their work on Perseverance.
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- 2022
7. The rich meteorology of Jezero crater over the first 250 sols of Perseverance on Mars
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Jose Rodriguez-Manfredi, Manuel de la Torre Juarez, Agustin Sanchez-Lavega, Ricardo Hueso, German Martinez, Mark Lemmon, Claire Newman, Asier Munguira, Maria Hieta, Leslie Tamppari, Jouni Polkko, Daniel Toledo, Eduardo Sebastian, Michael Smith, Iina Jaakonaho, Maria Genzer, Alvaro de Vicente-Retortillo, Daniel Viudez-Moreiras, Miguel Ramos, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Alain Lepinette, Michael Wolff, Robert Sullivan, Javier Gómez-Elvira, Victor Apestigue, Pamela Conrad, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, Naomi Murdoch, Ignacio Arruego, Donald Banfield, Justin Boland, Adrian Brown, Joaquin Ceballos, Manuel Dominguez-Pumar, Servando Espejo, Alberto Fairen, Ricardo Ferrandiz, Erik Fischer, Miriam Garcia-Villadangos, Silvia Gimenez, Felipe Gomez-Gomez, Scott Guzewich, Ari-Matti Harri, Juan Jimenez, Vicente Jimenez, Teemu Makinen, Mercedes Marin-Jimenez, Carolina Martin-Rubio, Javier Martin-Soler, Antonio Molina, Luis Mora-Sotomayor, Sara Navarro Lopez, Veronica Peinado, Isabel Perez-Grande, Jorge Pla-Garcia, Marina Postigo, Olga Prieto-Ballesteros, Scot Rafkin, Mark Richardson, Julio Romeral, Catalina Romero, Hannu Savijärvi, John Schofield, Josefina Torres, Roser Urqui, Sofia Zurita, and MEDA team
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Perseverance's Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) is collecting data at Jezero Crater, characterizing the physical processes in the lowest layer of the atmosphere as no previous instrument did before. Here we show that temperature measurements at four heights capture the response of the atmospheric surface layer to multiple phenomena. We observe the transition from a stable nighttime thermal inversion to a diurnal, highly turbulent convective regime, with large vertical thermal gradients, and where local surface properties (such as Thermal Inertia) play an essential role. Recording multiple daily optical depths yielded higher aerosol concentrations in the morning than in the afternoon. Measured wind patterns are mainly driven by local topography, with a small contribution from regional winds. Daily and seasonal variability of relative humidity shows a complex hydrologic cycle. These observations raise new puzzles in which changes in surface albedo and thermal inertia may play an influential role. On a larger scale, surface pressure shows typical signatures of gravity waves and baroclinic eddies in a part of the seasonal cycle characterized before as low wave activity. These observations, combined and simultaneous, show the rich Jezero’s meteorology, and unveil the diversity of processes driving change on today’s Martian surface.
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- 2022
8. A Long‐Term Study of Mars Mesospheric Clouds Seen at Twilight Based on Mars Express VMC Images
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Eleni Ravanis, Alejandro Cardesín-Moinelo, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, R. Hueso, Jorge Hernández-Bernal, Dmitri Titov, and Simon Wood
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Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) ,Twilight ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy ,Mars Exploration Program ,Effects of high altitude on humans ,010502 geochemistry & geophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Geophysics ,Long term learning ,Altitude ,Mars express ,General Earth and Planetary Sciences ,Solstice ,Geology ,Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Visual monitoring - Abstract
We present the first systematic study of clouds observed during twilight on Mars. We analyze images obtained by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) on Mars Express between 2007 and 2020. Using an automated retrieval algorithm we found 407 cases of clouds observed at twilight, in which the geometry of the observations allows to derive the minimum altitude, revealing that many of these clouds are in the mesosphere (above 40km and up to 90km). The majority of these mesospheric clouds were detected in mid-latitudes at local autumn and winter, a new trend only hinted at by previous studies. In particular, we find a massive concentration of clouds in the southern mid-latitudes between Terra Cimmeria and Aonia, a region where high altitude events have been previously observed. We propose that there is an unknown mechanism in these regions that enhances the probability to host high altitude clouds around the southern winter solstice.
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- 2021
9. An Extremely Elongated Cloud over Arsia Mons Volcano on Mars: I. Life Cycle
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Kyle Connour, Nicholas M. Schneider, R. Jaumann, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, Dmitrij Titov, Eleni Ravanis, Daniela Tirsch, B. Gondet, Alejandro Cardesín-Moinelo, R. Hueso, Ernst Hauber, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, Simon Wood, I. Ordonez-Etxeberria, and Jorge Hernández-Bernal
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010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Mars ,01 natural sciences ,law.invention ,HRSC ,Orbiter ,Geochemistry and Petrology ,Dust storm ,law ,Clouds ,Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) ,Solstice ,Sunrise ,Mars Express ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) ,geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,VMC ,Mars Exploration Program ,Planetengeologie ,Geophysics ,Volcano ,Space and Planetary Science ,atmospheric phenomena ,Climatology ,Timekeeping on Mars ,Longitude ,Geology ,Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics - Abstract
We report a previously unnoticed annually repeating phenomenon consisting of the daily formation of an extremely elongated cloud extending as far as 1,800 km westward from Arsia Mons. It takes place in the solar longitude (Ls) range of ∼220°-320°, around the Southern solstice. We study this Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud (AMEC) using images from different orbiters, including ESA Mars Express, NASA MAVEN, Viking 2, MRO, and ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). We study the AMEC in detail in Martian year (MY) 34 in terms of local time and Ls and find that it exhibits a very rapid daily cycle: the cloud growth starts before sunrise on the western slope of the volcano, followed by a westward expansion that lasts 2.5 h with a velocity of around 170 m/s in the mesosphere (∼45 km over the areoid). The cloud formation then ceases, detaches from its formation point, and continues moving westward until it evaporates before the afternoon, when most sun synchronous orbiters make observations. Moreover, we comparatively study observations from different years (i.e., MYs 29-34) in search of interannual variations and find that in MY33 the cloud exhibits lower activity, while in MY34 the beginning of its formation was delayed compared with other years, most likely due to the Global Dust Storm. This phenomenon takes place in a season known for the general lack of clouds on Mars. In this paper we focus on observations, and a theoretical interpretation will be the subject of a separate paper.
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- 2021
10. The 2018 Martian Global Dust Storm over the South Polar Region studied with MEx/VMC
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Dmitrij Titov, Jorge Hernández-Bernal, A. de Burgos-Sierra, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, Alejandro Cardesín-Moinelo, Eleni Ravanis, Simon Wood, and R. Hueso
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Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) ,Martian ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Context (language use) ,010502 geochemistry & geophysics ,Tracking (particle physics) ,Atmospheric sciences ,Spatial distribution ,01 natural sciences ,Aerosol ,Geophysics ,Dust storm ,General Earth and Planetary Sciences ,Polar ,Geology ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Visual monitoring ,Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics - Abstract
We study the 2018 Martian Global DustStorm (GDS 2018) over the Southern Polar Region using images obtained by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) on board Mars Express during June and July 2018. Dust penetrated into the polar cap region but never covered the cap completely, and its spatial distribution was nonhomogeneous and rapidly changing. However, we detected long but narrow aerosol curved arcs with a length of 2,000-3,000 km traversing part of the cap and crossing the terminator into the night side. Tracking discrete dust clouds allowed measurements of their motions that were towards the terminator with velocities up to 100 m/s. The images of the dust projected into the Martian limb show maximum altitudes of around 70 km but with large spatial and temporal variations. We discuss these results in the context of the predictions of a numerical model for dust storm scenario.
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- 2021
11. Interaction of Saturn’s Hexagon with convective storms
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K. Ahrens-Velásquez, Manel Soria, M. H. Wong, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, Amy Simon, Enrique Garcia-Melendo, T. Barry, C. Foster, R. Hueso, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, C. Go, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament de Física, and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. TUAREG - Turbulence and Aerodynamics in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Research Group
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010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Saturn (rocket family) ,Storms ,Física [Àrees temàtiques de la UPC] ,Library science ,010502 geochemistry & geophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Saturn (Planet) ,Geophysics ,Spitzer Space Telescope ,13. Climate action ,Saturn (Planeta) ,Political science ,Convective storm detection ,General Earth and Planetary Sciences ,media_common.cataloged_instance ,European union ,Computer resources ,Tempestes ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,media_common - Abstract
In March 2020 a convective storm erupted at planetographic latitude 76°N in the southern flank of Saturn’s long-lived hexagonal wave. The storm reached a zonal size of 4,500 km and developed a tail extending zonally 33,000 km. Two new short-lived storms erupted in May in the hexagon edge. These storms formed after the convective storms that took place in 2018 in nearby latitudes. There were no noticeable changes in the zonal profile of Saturn's polar winds in 2018-2020. Measurements of the longitude position of the vertices of the hexagon throughout this period yield a value for its period of rotation equal to that of System III of radio-rotation measured at the time of Voyagers. We report changes in the hexagon clouds related to the activity of the storms. Our study reinforces the idea that Saturn’s hexagon is a well rooted structure with a possible direct relationship with the bulk rotation of the planet. This work has been supported by the Spanish project AYA2015-65041-P and PID2019-109467GB444 I00 (MINECO/FEDER, UE) and Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT1366-19. EGM is Serra Hunter Fellow atUPC. This work has used data acquired from the NASA/ESA HST Space Telescope, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These HST observations are associated with program GO/DD 15262. EGM, MS, KAV and ASL thankfully acknowledge the computer resources at Mare Nostrum and the technical support provided by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (AECT-2019-2-0006). We thank all the observers who have contributed with their images to the monitoring of the atmospheric activity on Saturn during the years 2019 and 2020 and whose list and images can be found in the ALPO452 Japan and PVOL databases. Part of the amateur observations analyzed were obtained through a collaboration with Europlanet 2024 RI. Europlanet 2024 RI has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 871149.
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- 2021
12. A complex storm system in Saturn’s north polar atmosphere in 2018
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Ulyana A. Dyudina, J. F. Sanz-Requena, John J. Blalock, Kunio M. Sayanagi, Manel Soria, Jon Legarreta, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, Jacob L. Gunnarson, Shawn P. Ewald, T. Barry, J. M. Gómez-Forrellad, Michael H. Wong, M. Delcroix, Enrique Garcia-Melendo, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, R. Hueso, Santiago Pérez-Hoyos, Amy Simon, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament de Física, and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. TUAREG - Turbulence and Aerodynamics in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Research Group
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010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Saturn (Planet)--Atmosphere ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Storm ,01 natural sciences ,Saturn (Planet) ,Latitude ,Atmosphere ,Saturn (Planeta) ,Climatology ,Saturn ,Física::Astronomia i astrofísica [Àrees temàtiques de la UPC] ,0103 physical sciences ,Convective storm detection ,Polar ,White Spots ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Geology ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Great White Spot - Abstract
Producción Científica, Saturn’s convective storms usually fall in two categories. One consists of mid-sized storms ∼2,000 km wide, appearing as irregular bright cloud systems that evolve rapidly, on scales of a few days. The other includes the Great White Spots, planetary-scale giant storms ten times larger than the mid-sized ones, which disturb a full latitude band, enduring several months, and have been observed only seven times since 1876. Here we report a new intermediate type, observed in 2018 in the north polar region. Four large storms with east–west lengths ∼4,000–8,000 km (the first one lasting longer than 200 days) formed sequentially in close latitudes, experiencing mutual encounters and leading to zonal disturbances affecting a full latitude band ∼8,000 km wide, during at least eight months. Dynamical simulations indicate that each storm required energies around ten times larger than mid-sized storms but ∼100 times smaller than those necessary for a Great White Spot. This event occurred at about the same latitude and season as the Great White Spot in 1960, in close correspondence with the cycle of approximately 60 years hypothesized for equatorial Great White Spots., Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project AYA2015-65041-P), Gobierno Vasco (project IT-366-19)
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- 2020
13. Saturn atmospheric dynamics one year after Cassini: Long-lived features and time variations in the drift of the Hexagon
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Santiago Pérez-Hoyos, J. M. Gómez-Forrellad, M. Delcroix, Enrique Garcia-Melendo, Jose Félix Rojas, D. Peach, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, J. Blalock, R. Hueso, J.L. Gunnarson, T. Barry, Amy Simon, Leigh N. Fletcher, Michael H. Wong, Kunio M. Sayanagi, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, François Colas, Arrate Antuñano, Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Ephémérides (IMCCE), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Lille-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament de Física, and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. TUAREG - Turbulence and Aerodynamics in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Research Group
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Atmospheres ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Saturn (Planet)--Atmosphere ,Equator ,FOS: Physical sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Latitude ,Atmosphere ,Planet ,0103 physical sciences ,Saturn (Planeta)--Atmosfera ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Great White Spot ,Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) ,[PHYS]Physics [physics] ,Astronomy ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Dynamics ,Saturn ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,Anticyclone ,Física::Astronomia i astrofísica [Àrees temàtiques de la UPC] ,Polar ,Stochastic drift ,[PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] ,Geology ,Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics - Abstract
We examine Saturn's atmosphere with observations from ground-based telescopes and Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We present a detailed analysis of observations acquired during 2018. A system of polar storms that appeared in the planet in March 2018 and remained active with a complex phenomenology at least until Sept. is analyzed elsewhere (Sanchez-Lavega et al., in press , 2019). Many of the cloud features in 2018 are long-lived and can be identified in images in 2017, and in some cases, for up to a decade using also Cassini ISS images. Without considering the polar storms, the most interesting long-lived cloud systems are: i) A bright spot in the EZ that can be tracked continuously since 2014 with a zonal velocity of 444 m/s in 2014 and 452 m/s in 2018. This velocity is different from the zonal winds at the cloud level at its latitude during the Cassini mission, and is closer to zonal winds obtained at the time of the Voyager flybys and zonal winds from Cassini VIMS infrared images of the lower atmosphere. ii) A large Anticyclone Vortex, here AV, that formed after the GWS of 2010-2011. This vortex has changed significantly in visual contrast, drift rate and latitude with minor changes in size over the last years. iii) A system of subpolar vortices present at least since 2011. These vortices follow drift rates consistent with zonal winds obtained by Cassini. We also present the positions of the vertices of the North polar hexagon from 2015 to 2018 compared with previous analyses during Cassini (2007-2014), observations with HST, and Voyager data in 1980-1981 to explore the long-term hexagon's drift rate. Variations in the drift rate cannot be fit by seasonal changes. Instead, the different drift rates reinforce the role of the North Polar Spot that was present in the Voyager epoch to cause a faster drift rate of the hexagon at that time compared with the current one., 53 pages, 24 figures, manuscript accepted in Icarus
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- 2020
14. Limb clouds and dust on Mars from images obtained by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) onboard Mars Express
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I. Ordonez-Etxeberria, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, Alejandro Cardesín-Moinelo, Ricardo Hueso, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, S. Wood, Dmitri Titov, A. Garro, and H. Chen-Chen
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Martian ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Storm ,Mars Exploration Program ,Atmospheric sciences ,01 natural sciences ,law.invention ,Atmosphere ,Orbiter ,Space and Planetary Science ,Dust storm ,law ,Climatology ,0103 physical sciences ,Environmental science ,Longitude ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Orographic lift - Abstract
The Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) onboard the Mars Express (MEx) spacecraft is a simple camera aimed to monitor the release of the Beagle-2 lander on Mars Express and later used for public outreach. Here, we employ VMC as a scientific instrument to study and characterize high altitude aerosols events (dust and condensates) observed at the Martian limb. More than 21,000 images taken between 2007 and 2016 have been examined to detect and characterize elevated layers of dust in the limb, dust storms and clouds. We report a total of 18 events for which we give their main properties (areographic location, maximum altitude, limb projected size, Martian solar longitude and local time of occurrence). The top altitudes of these phenomena ranged from 40 to 85 km and their horizontal extent at the limb ranged from 120 to 2000 km. They mostly occurred at Equatorial and Tropical latitudes (between ∼30°N and 30°S) at morning and afternoon local times in the southern fall and northern winter seasons. None of them are related to the orographic clouds that typically form around volcanoes. Three of these events have been studied in detail using simultaneous images taken by the MARCI instrument onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and studying the properties of the atmosphere using the predictions from the Mars Climate Database (MCD) General Circulation Model. This has allowed us to determine the three-dimensional structure and nature of these events, with one of them being a regional dust storm and the two others water ice clouds. Analyses based on MCD and/or MARCI images for the other cases studied indicate that the rest of the events correspond most probably to water ice clouds.
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- 2018
15. Hazes and clouds in a singular triple vortex in Saturn's atmosphere from HST/WFC3 multispectral imaging
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T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, J. F. Sanz-Requena, Patrick G. J. Irwin, Santiago Pérez-Hoyos, and Agustín Sánchez-Lavega
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Physics ,Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) ,Haze ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Multispectral image ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Atmosphere ,Troposphere ,Physics - Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics ,Atmospheric radiative transfer codes ,Space and Planetary Science ,Anticyclone ,Saturn ,0103 physical sciences ,Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics (physics.ao-ph) ,Radiative transfer ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
In this paper we present a study of the vertical haze and cloud structure over a triple vortex in Saturn's atmosphere in the planetographic latitude range 55N-69N (del Rio- Gaztelurrutia et al. , 2018) using HST/WFC3 multispectral imaging. The observations were taken during 29-30 June and 1 July 2015 at ten different filters covering spectral range from the 225 nm to 937 nm, including the deep methane band at 889 nm. Absolute reflectivity measurements of this region at all wavelengths and under a number of illumination and observation geometries are fitted with the values produced by a radiative transfer model. Most of the reflectivity variations in this wavelength range can be attributed to changes in the tropospheric haze. The anticyclones are optically thicker ($\tau \sim$ 25 vs $\sim$ 10), more vertically extended ($\sim$ 3 gas scale heights vs $\sim$ 2) and their bases are located deeper in the atmosphere (550 mbar vs 500 mbar) than the cyclone., Comment: 36 pages, 16 figures
- Published
- 2019
16. A seasonally recurrent annular cyclone in Mars northern latitudes and observations of a companion vortex
- Author
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T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, Dima Titov, Miguel Almeida, François Forget, Augustin Sanchez-Lavega, Aymeric Spiga, Harald Hoffmann, Brigitte Gondet, A. Garro, Simon Wood, H. Chen Chen, Alejandro Cardesín-Moinelo, Anni Määttänen, I. Ordonez-Etxeberria, Ricardo Hueso, Departamento de Fisica Aplicada [Bilbao], Universidad del Pais Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea [Espagne] (UPV/EHU), European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), European Space Operations Center (ESOC), Dias Almeida Data Processing and Systems, Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539) (LMD), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Département des Géosciences - ENS Paris, École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL), PLANETO - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS), DLR Institut für Planetenforschung, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt [Berlin] (DLR), Institut d'astrophysique spatiale (IAS), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency (ESA), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National d’Études Spatiales [Paris] (CNES)
- Subjects
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Atmospheric sciences ,01 natural sciences ,double cyclonic vortex ,law.invention ,Latitude ,Orbiter ,Geochemistry and Petrology ,law ,0103 physical sciences ,Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) ,Mars Express ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Martian ,[SDU.ASTR]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] ,Atmosphere of Mars ,Mars Exploration Program ,water ice clouds ,Martian clouds ,Geophysics ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,Cyclone ,Timekeeping on Mars ,Longitude ,Geology - Abstract
International audience; We study a seasonally recurrent cyclone and related cloud phenomena observed on Mars at Ls ~ 120°, latitude ~ 60°N and longitude 90°W from images obtained with cameras in different spacecraft between 1995 and 2018. A remarkable double cyclone formed in 2012 and we present a detailed study of its dynamics using images from Mars Express and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter obtained between June 6 and July 9. A double cyclone was also observed in 2006 and 2008. In other Martian Years the primary cyclone showed an annular cloud morphology with a large water ice cloud observed eastward of it. The cyclones have a size of ~ 600‐800 km with a cloud‐free core of a radius ~ 100‐300 km. Tangential velocities measured from cloud tracking in 2012 images are ~ 5‐20 ms‐1 at 10 km altitude and DC moved eastwards with a velocity of 4 ms‐ 1 during its lifetime of one month. The vortices grow in the morning hours, but with the increasing insolation as the sol progresses, a part of the clouds evaporate, the winds weaken and the vortices lose coherence. This phenomenon forms under high temperature gradients in a region with a large north‐south topographic slope and has been recurrent each Martian year between 1995 and 2018. We argue the interest of studying its changing properties each Martian year in order to explore their possible relationship to the state of the Martian atmosphere at Ls ~ 120°.
- Published
- 2018
17. Dynamics of Saturn's polar regions
- Author
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T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, Ricardo Hueso, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, and Arrate Antuñano
- Subjects
Jet (fluid) ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Zonal and meridional ,Geophysics ,Vorticity ,Physics::Geophysics ,Latitude ,Space and Planetary Science ,Geochemistry and Petrology ,Anticyclone ,Polar vortex ,Saturn ,Physics::Space Physics ,Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) ,Polar ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Physics::Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics ,Geology - Abstract
We analyze data retrieved by the imaging science system onboard the Cassini spacecraft to study the horizontal velocity and vorticity fields of Saturn's polar regions (latitudes 60–90°N in June–December 2013 and 60–90°S in October 2006 and July–December 2008), including the northern region where the hexagonal wave is prominent. With the aid of an automated two-dimensional correlation algorithm we determine two-dimensional maps of zonal and meridional winds and deduce vorticity maps. We extract zonal averages of zonal winds, providing wind profiles that reach latitudes as high as 89.5° in the south and 89.9° in the north. Wind measurements cover the intense polar cyclonic vortices that reach similar peak velocities of 150 m s−1 at ±88.5°. The hexagonal wave lies in the core of an intense eastward jet at planetocentric latitude 75.8°N with motions that become nonzonal at the hexagonal feature. In the south hemisphere the peak of the eastward jet is located at planetocentric latitude 70.4°S. A large anticyclone (the south polar spot, SPS), similar to the north polar spot (NPS) observed at the Voyager times (1980–1981), has been observed in images from April 2008 to January 2009 in the south polar region at latitude −66.1° close to the eastward jet. The SPS does not apparently excite a wave on the jet. We analyze the stability of the zonal jets, finding potential instabilities at the flanks of the eastward jets around 70°, and we measure the eddy wind components, suggesting momentum transfer from eddy motion to the westward jets closer to the poles.
- Published
- 2015
18. The long-term steady motion of Saturn's hexagon and the stability of its enclosed jet stream under seasonal changes
- Author
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P. Nicholas, C. Go, A. Wesley, Jose Félix Rojas, J. Lillo, T. Barry, Arrate Antuñano, D. P. Milika, Santiago Pérez-Hoyos, D. Peach, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, Ricardo Hueso, D. Barrado-Navascués, I. Mendikoa, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, Enrique Garcia-Melendo, and J. M. Gómez-Forrellad
- Subjects
Physics ,Rotation period ,Jet (fluid) ,Rossby wave ,Astrophysics ,Geophysics ,Jet stream ,Anticyclone ,Planet ,Saturn ,General Earth and Planetary Sciences ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Physics::Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics ,Saturn's hexagon - Abstract
We investigate the long-term motion of Saturn's north pole hexagon and the structure of its associated eastward jet, using Cassini imaging science system and ground-based images from 2008 to 2014. We show that both are persistent features that have survived the long polar night, the jet profile remaining essentially unchanged. During those years, the hexagon vertices showed a steady rotation period of 10 h 39 min 23.01 ± 0.01 s. The analysis of Voyager 1 and 2 (1980–1981) and Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based (1990–1991) images shows a period shorter by 3.5 s due to the presence at the time of a large anticyclone. We interpret the hexagon as a manifestation of a vertically trapped Rossby wave on the polar jet and, because of their survival and unchanged properties under the strong seasonal variations in insolation, we propose that both hexagon and jet are deep-rooted atmospheric features that could reveal the true rotation of the planet Saturn.
- Published
- 2014
19. Basic orbital mechanics from simple observations of the main satellites of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
- Author
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Iker Otxoa, T del Río Gaztelurrutia, Asier S de Ormaetxea, Jorge Hernández-Bernal, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, and V. Almendros
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Physics ,Simple (abstract algebra) ,Neptune ,Saturn ,Uranus ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Astronomy ,Orbital mechanics - Published
- 2019
20. Atmospheric dynamics of Saturn’s 2010 giant storm
- Author
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J. F. Sanz-Requena, Enrique Garcia-Melendo, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, Santiago Pérez-Hoyos, Jon Legarreta, Ricardo Hueso, and T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia
- Subjects
Atmosphere ,Convection ,Spacecraft ,Saturn (rocket family) ,business.industry ,Zonal flow ,General Earth and Planetary Sciences ,Storm ,Atmospheric dynamics ,Geophysics ,Atmospheric sciences ,business ,Geology - Abstract
Great White Spot—a rare planet-encircling storm—raged on Saturn in 2010–2011. Analyses of high-resolution spacecraft imagery and numerical modelling reveal a dynamic storm head powered by sustained convection in the zonal flow of Saturn’s atmosphere.
- Published
- 2013
21. An enduring rapidly moving storm as a guide to Saturn’s Equatorial jet’s complex structure
- Author
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J. F. Sanz-Requena, N. Barrado-Izagirre, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, I. de Pater, Liming Li, J. M. Gómez-Forrellad, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, T. Barry, Jose Félix Rojas, Arrate Antuñano, Michael H. Wong, Amy Simon, Enrique Garcia-Melendo, I. Garate-Lopez, Santiago Pérez-Hoyos, R. Hueso, and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament de Física
- Subjects
Meteorologia dinàmica ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Gas giant ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Science ,Atmospheric physics ,Equator ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Atmospheric sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Article ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Altitude ,Planet ,cloud level ,Saturn ,0103 physical sciences ,evolution ,Giant planets ,Radiative transfer ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,zonal winds ,cassini ISS ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Physics::Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics ,Saturn's hexagon ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,disturbance ,Atmospheric dynamics ,Jet (fluid) ,Multidisciplinary ,Física [Àrees temàtiques de la UPC] ,variability ,HST ,Astronomy ,General Chemistry ,Saturn (Planet) ,images ,flux ,Saturn (Planeta) ,Física atmosfèrica ,Physics::Space Physics ,atmosphere ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Geology - Abstract
Saturn has an intense and broad eastward equatorial jet with a complex three-dimensional structure mixed with time variability. The equatorial region experiences strong seasonal insolation variations enhanced by ring shadowing, and three of the six known giant planetary-scale storms have developed in it. These factors make Saturn's equator a natural laboratory to test models of jets in giant planets. Here we report on a bright equatorial atmospheric feature imaged in 2015 that moved steadily at a high speed of 450 ms−1 not measured since 1980–1981 with other equatorial clouds moving within an ample range of velocities. Radiative transfer models show that these motions occur at three altitude levels within the upper haze and clouds. We find that the peak of the jet (latitudes 10° N to 10° S) suffers intense vertical shears reaching +2.5 ms−1 km−1, two orders of magnitude higher than meridional shears, and temporal variability above 1 bar altitude level., The origin, variability, and structure of Saturn's intense and broad eastward equatorial jet at upper cloud level are complex and unexplained. Here, based on observations of a large, bright equatorial disturbance in 2015, the authors characterise the vertical structure of the jet and its long-term variability.
- Published
- 2016
22. Analytical solutions for laser modes in misaligned resonators
- Author
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I. Iparraguirre and T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia
- Subjects
Physics ,Geometrical optics ,business.industry ,Paraxial approximation ,Eigenfunction ,Curvature ,Laser ,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics ,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials ,Intensity (physics) ,law.invention ,Resonator ,Optics ,law ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry ,business ,Eigenvalues and eigenvectors - Abstract
Laser modes of misaligned resonators transversally limited in gain are obtained analytically within the paraxial approximation. The eigenfunctions are shown to be complex Hermite–Gaussian functions, not centered either in intensity or in curvature center. Eigenvalues are also obtained, and the effect of resonator parameters and misalignment is analyzed, revealing the lack of selectivity of misalignment on order mode. The changes in the appearance of the modes are also shown.
- Published
- 2011
23. Is angular impulse always equal to the change of angular momentum in collisions between rigid bodies?
- Author
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L M Villar, M A Illarramendi, and T del Río Gaztelurrutia
- Subjects
Physics ,Angular momentum ,Classical mechanics ,Total angular momentum quantum number ,Angular momentum of light ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Absolute angular momentum ,Rotational transition ,Angular momentum operator ,Poinsot's ellipsoid ,Relative angular momentum - Abstract
The relationships between angular impulse and angular momentum have been derived in the particular case of collisions between rigid bodies. It is shown that the change in absolute angular momentum about an arbitrary reference point is always equal to the angular impulse. However, the change in relative angular momentum is equal to the angular impulse only when it is calculated about particular points. We illustrate with two examples the differences between both equations. Laburpena: Bultzada angeluarraren eta momentu angeluarraren arteko erlazioak partikularizatuta solido zurrunaren talken kasurako aztertu dira. Momentu angeluar absolutoaren aldaketa edozein puntutan kalkulatuta beti dela bultzada angeluarra frogatzen da. Baina momentu angeluar erlatiboaren aldaketa da bultzada angeluarra puntu berezietan kalkulatzen bada. Ekuazioen arteko ezberdintasunak bi adibideren laguntzarekin erakusten ditugu.
- Published
- 1997
24. Moments to be cautious of-relative versus absolute angular momentum
- Author
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M A Illarramendi and T del Río Gaztelurrutia
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Physics ,Angular momentum ,Classical mechanics ,Total angular momentum quantum number ,Angular momentum of light ,Angular momentum coupling ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Rotational transition ,Absolute angular momentum ,Moment of inertia ,Angular momentum operator - Abstract
The rotational dynamic equations for relative and absolute angular momentum are analysed. With the aid of an example, it is shown that whenever the reference point is not fixed on the centre of mass, an adequate choice of relative or absolute torque equation is conditioned to how the movement of the reference point is described.
- Published
- 1995
25. Introducing gravitational resonances from simple observations of Jupiter’s Galilean satellites
- Author
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Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, I. Ordonez-Etxeberria, and T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia
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Physics ,Laplace transform ,Orbital resonance ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Astronomy ,Resonance ,Astrophysics ,Orbital period ,01 natural sciences ,Physics::Geophysics ,Galilean moons ,Gravitation ,symbols.namesake ,Exploration of Jupiter ,Physics::Space Physics ,0103 physical sciences ,symbols ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,010306 general physics ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Commensurability (astronomy) - Abstract
We introduce a simple observation methodology to measure the orbital longitudes and mean motions of Jupiter Galilean satellites in order to verify the Laplace resonance phenomenon between Io, Europa and Ganymede (an orbital period commensurability 1:2:4 and an equation that relates their orbital longitudes). We complement the study with measurements of the quasi-commensurability 7:3 between the periods of Ganymede and Callisto, in order to further discuss gravitational resonances.
- Published
- 2016
26. Cloud structure of Saturn's 2010 storm from ground-based visual imaging
- Author
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D. Barrado-Navascués, F. Colas, D. Parker, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, J. F. Sanz-Requena, Santiago Pérez-Hoyos, J. Lecacheux, Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Ephémérides (IMCCE), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique (LESIA), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Lille-Observatoire de Paris, and Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)
- Subjects
[PHYS]Physics [physics] ,Haze ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Storm ,Atmospheric sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Troposphere ,Atmosphere ,Altitude ,Atmospheric radiative transfer codes ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,Saturn ,0103 physical sciences ,[PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Geology ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Great White Spot - Abstract
We present a study of the vertical cloud structure for the initial stage of the Great White Spot (GWS), a giant storm that developed in Saturn in December 2010, using ground-based visual images. We focus in the characterization of the undisturbed atmosphere preceding the storm and the disturbed region in the wake of the GWS. The observations were taken at Calar Alto (Spain) and Pic du Midi (France) observatories on 27 December 2010 and 13 January 2011, about 1 month after the detection of the outbreak. They cover a spectral range from the ultraviolet at 375 nm to the near infrared at 954 nm, including the deep methane absorption band at 890 nm and a number of increasingly weaker methane absorption bands. Limb to limb scans of the absolute reflectivity of the regions preceding and following the storm at different wavelengths are compared to those produced by a radiative transfer model atmosphere. Our model assumes three layers of gas and particles: stratospheric and tropospheric hazes and a deep cloud. We find that the most notorious changes in the wake of the GWS occurred in the top level of the semi-infinite bottom cloud which ascended from an altitude level P > 1 bar in the undisturbed region to P = 300 + 300 - 100 mbar in the stormy area, representing a rise of more than 40 km. The density of the tropospheric haze does not change substantially but tropospheric particles are found to be more reflectant at all wavelengths, suggesting that they are coated by fresh material, putatively coming from deeper levels of the atmosphere.
- Published
- 2012
27. The vacuum structure of the O(N) non-linear sigma model
- Author
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T. del Río Gaztelurrutia and Anne-Christine Davis
- Subjects
Physics ,Nuclear and High Energy Physics ,Formalism (philosophy of mathematics) ,Sigma model ,Quantum mechanics ,Pairing ,Vacuum state ,Dimensional transmutation ,Mass gap ,Non-linear sigma model ,Ansatz - Abstract
The vacuum structure of the O( N ) non-linear sigma model is investigated using a variational technique with a pairing ansatz for the trial vacuum state. Both the constrained and the unconstrained formalism are analysed. Dimensional transmutation is seen to occur, and the beta function and mass gap of the model are calculated. Agreement is obtained with the conventional large- N expansion. In the unconstrained formalism contact is made with a non-perturbative ordering technique, suggesting that the vacuum state in the latter is just the pairing vacuum.
- Published
- 1990
28. Axion Emission from Red Giants and White Dwarfs
- Author
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T. Del RíO Gaztelurrutia
- Subjects
Physics ,White dwarf ,Astrophysics ,Axion - Published
- 1996
29. Basic orbital mechanics from simple observations of the main satellites of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
- Author
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A Sánchez-Lavega, V Almendros, J Hernández-Bernal, Iker Otxoa, Asier S de Ormaetxea, and T del Río Gaztelurrutia
- Subjects
ORBITAL mechanics ,SATELLITES of Saturn ,SPACE sciences ,PLANETARY mass ,TITAN (Satellite) ,CAMCORDERS ,ASTRONAUTICS - Abstract
We present a practice on astrodynamics based on telescopic observations of the motions of the major satellites of Saturn (Mimas, Enceladus, Thetis, Dione, Rea, Titan, Hyperion, Iapetus), Uranus (Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon) and Neptune (Triton). The practice was developed with the students of the Master in Space Science and Technology of the Basque Country University (Sánchez-Lavega et al 2014 Eur. J. Eng. Educ. 39 518–26) using a telescope of 28 cm in diameter and a video camera. The images, obtained during the years 2014–2016, were used to calculate the basic orbital parameters of the satellites, derive the planet masses and, in the case of Saturn, study of the gravitational resonance phenomena. For Triton, the main satellite of Neptune, we use its retrograde orbit to comment on its origin and long-term orbital stability. This study is a continuation and extension of previous works were we used similar techniques to analyse the orbital dynamics of Jupiter’s Galilean satellites (Ordoñez-Etxeberría et al 2014 Eur. J. Phys. 35 045020; Ordoñez-Etxeberría et al 2016 Eur. J. Phys.37 065601; Rojas and Sánchez-Lavega Eur. J. Phys. 38 065601). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
30. The dynamic atmospheric and aeolian environment of Jezero crater, Mars.
- Author
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Newman CE, Hueso R, Lemmon MT, Munguira A, Vicente-Retortillo Á, Apestigue V, Martínez GM, Toledo D, Sullivan R, Herkenhoff KE, de la Torre Juárez M, Richardson MI, Stott AE, Murdoch N, Sanchez-Lavega A, Wolff MJ, Arruego I, Sebastián E, Navarro S, Gómez-Elvira J, Tamppari L, Viúdez-Moreiras D, Harri AM, Genzer M, Hieta M, Lorenz RD, Conrad P, Gómez F, McConnochie TH, Mimoun D, Tate C, Bertrand T, Bell JF 3rd, Maki JN, Rodriguez-Manfredi JA, Wiens RC, Chide B, Maurice S, Zorzano MP, Mora L, Baker MM, Banfield D, Pla-Garcia J, Beyssac O, Brown A, Clark B, Lepinette A, Montmessin F, Fischer E, Patel P, Del Río-Gaztelurrutia T, Fouchet T, Francis R, and Guzewich SD
- Abstract
Despite the importance of sand and dust to Mars geomorphology, weather, and exploration, the processes that move sand and that raise dust to maintain Mars' ubiquitous dust haze and to produce dust storms have not been well quantified in situ, with missions lacking either the necessary sensors or a sufficiently active aeolian environment. Perseverance rover's novel environmental sensors and Jezero crater's dusty environment remedy this. In Perseverance's first 216 sols, four convective vortices raised dust locally, while, on average, four passed the rover daily, over 25% of which were significantly dusty ("dust devils"). More rarely, dust lifting by nonvortex wind gusts was produced by daytime convection cells advected over the crater by strong regional daytime upslope winds, which also control aeolian surface features. One such event covered 10 times more area than the largest dust devil, suggesting that dust devils and wind gusts could raise equal amounts of dust under nonstorm conditions.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
31. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer, MEDA. A Suite of Environmental Sensors for the Mars 2020 Mission.
- Author
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Rodriguez-Manfredi JA, de la Torre Juárez M, Alonso A, Apéstigue V, Arruego I, Atienza T, Banfield D, Boland J, Carrera MA, Castañer L, Ceballos J, Chen-Chen H, Cobos A, Conrad PG, Cordoba E, Del Río-Gaztelurrutia T, de Vicente-Retortillo A, Domínguez-Pumar M, Espejo S, Fairen AG, Fernández-Palma A, Ferrándiz R, Ferri F, Fischer E, García-Manchado A, García-Villadangos M, Genzer M, Giménez S, Gómez-Elvira J, Gómez F, Guzewich SD, Harri AM, Hernández CD, Hieta M, Hueso R, Jaakonaho I, Jiménez JJ, Jiménez V, Larman A, Leiter R, Lepinette A, Lemmon MT, López G, Madsen SN, Mäkinen T, Marín M, Martín-Soler J, Martínez G, Molina A, Mora-Sotomayor L, Moreno-Álvarez JF, Navarro S, Newman CE, Ortega C, Parrondo MC, Peinado V, Peña A, Pérez-Grande I, Pérez-Hoyos S, Pla-García J, Polkko J, Postigo M, Prieto-Ballesteros O, Rafkin SCR, Ramos M, Richardson MI, Romeral J, Romero C, Runyon KD, Saiz-Lopez A, Sánchez-Lavega A, Sard I, Schofield JT, Sebastian E, Smith MD, Sullivan RJ, Tamppari LK, Thompson AD, Toledo D, Torrero F, Torres J, Urquí R, Velasco T, Viúdez-Moreiras D, and Zurita S
- Abstract
NASA's Mars 2020 (M2020) rover mission includes a suite of sensors to monitor current environmental conditions near the surface of Mars and to constrain bulk aerosol properties from changes in atmospheric radiation at the surface. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) consists of a set of meteorological sensors including wind sensor, a barometer, a relative humidity sensor, a set of 5 thermocouples to measure atmospheric temperature at ∼1.5 m and ∼0.5 m above the surface, a set of thermopiles to characterize the thermal IR brightness temperatures of the surface and the lower atmosphere. MEDA adds a radiation and dust sensor to monitor the optical atmospheric properties that can be used to infer bulk aerosol physical properties such as particle size distribution, non-sphericity, and concentration. The MEDA package and its scientific purpose are described in this document as well as how it responded to the calibration tests and how it helps prepare for the human exploration of Mars. A comparison is also presented to previous environmental monitoring payloads landed on Mars on the Viking, Pathfinder, Phoenix, MSL, and InSight spacecraft., (© The Author(s) 2021.)
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
32. Multilayer hazes over Saturn's hexagon from Cassini ISS limb images.
- Author
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Sánchez-Lavega A, García-Muñoz A, Del Río-Gaztelurrutia T, Pérez-Hoyos S, Sanz-Requena JF, Hueso R, Guerlet S, and Peralta J
- Abstract
In June 2015, Cassini high-resolution images of Saturn's limb southwards of the planet's hexagonal wave revealed a system of at least six stacked haze layers above the upper cloud deck. Here, we characterize those haze layers and discuss their nature. Vertical thickness of layers ranged from 7 to 18 km, and they extended in altitude ∼130 km, from pressure level 0.5 bar to 0.01 bar. Above them, a thin but extended aerosol layer reached altitude ∼340 km (0.4 mbar). Radiative transfer modeling of spectral reflectivity shows that haze properties are consistent with particles of diameter 0.07-1.4 μm and number density 100-500 cm
-3 . The nature of the hazes is compatible with their formation by condensation of hydrocarbon ices, including acetylene and benzene at higher altitudes. Their vertical distribution could be due to upward propagating gravity waves generated by dynamical forcing by the hexagon and its associated eastward jet.- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
33. An enduring rapidly moving storm as a guide to Saturn's Equatorial jet's complex structure.
- Author
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Sánchez-Lavega A, García-Melendo E, Pérez-Hoyos S, Hueso R, Wong MH, Simon A, Sanz-Requena JF, Antuñano A, Barrado-Izagirre N, Garate-Lopez I, Rojas JF, Del Río-Gaztelurrutia T, Gómez-Forrellad JM, de Pater I, Li L, and Barry T
- Abstract
Saturn has an intense and broad eastward equatorial jet with a complex three-dimensional structure mixed with time variability. The equatorial region experiences strong seasonal insolation variations enhanced by ring shadowing, and three of the six known giant planetary-scale storms have developed in it. These factors make Saturn's equator a natural laboratory to test models of jets in giant planets. Here we report on a bright equatorial atmospheric feature imaged in 2015 that moved steadily at a high speed of 450 ms
-1 not measured since 1980-1981 with other equatorial clouds moving within an ample range of velocities. Radiative transfer models show that these motions occur at three altitude levels within the upper haze and clouds. We find that the peak of the jet (latitudes 10° N to 10° S) suffers intense vertical shears reaching +2.5 ms-1 km-1 , two orders of magnitude higher than meridional shears, and temporal variability above 1 bar altitude level.- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
34. Deep winds beneath Saturn's upper clouds from a seasonal long-lived planetary-scale storm.
- Author
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Sánchez-Lavega A, del Río-Gaztelurrutia T, Hueso R, Gómez-Forrellad JM, Sanz-Requena JF, Legarreta J, García-Melendo E, Colas F, Lecacheux J, Fletcher LN, Barrado-Navascués D, and Parker D
- Abstract
Convective storms occur regularly in Saturn's atmosphere. Huge storms known as Great White Spots, which are ten times larger than the regular storms, are rarer and occur about once per Saturnian year (29.5 Earth years). Current models propose that the outbreak of a Great White Spot is due to moist convection induced by water. However, the generation of the global disturbance and its effect on Saturn's permanent winds have hitherto been unconstrained by data, because there was insufficient spatial resolution and temporal sampling to infer the dynamics of Saturn's weather layer (the layer in the troposphere where the cloud forms). Theoretically, it has been suggested that this phenomenon is seasonally controlled. Here we report observations of a storm at northern latitudes in the peak of a weak westward jet during the beginning of northern springtime, in accord with the seasonal cycle but earlier than expected. The storm head moved faster than the jet, was active during the two-month observation period, and triggered a planetary-scale disturbance that circled Saturn but did not significantly alter the ambient zonal winds. Numerical simulations of the phenomenon show that, as on Jupiter, Saturn's winds extend without decay deep down into the weather layer, at least to the water-cloud base at pressures of 10-12 bar, which is much deeper than solar radiation penetrates., (©2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved)
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
35. A self-tunable Titanium Sapphire laser by rotating a set of parallel plates of active material.
- Author
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Iparraguirre I, Azkargorta J, Fernandez J, Balda R, Del Río Gaztelurrutia T, Illarramendi MA, and Aramburu I
- Abstract
In a recent work, the authors reported the experimental demonstration of wavelength tuning in a single birefringent plate of Ti:sapphire crystal based on its own birefringence properties. In that device, the thickness of the active plate, limited by the width of the single order tuning spectral region, imposed a strong constraint in the power performance of the laser. The aim of this work is to overcome this limitation by using a set of several identical birefringent plates so that the wavelength tuning of the laser is obtained by synchronously rotating the plates in their own plane. A discussion about the laser performance is presented.
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
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36. Charge-charge coupling effects on dipole emitter relaxation within a classical electron-ion plasma description.
- Author
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Dufour E, Calisti A, Talin B, Gigosos MA, González MA, del Río Gaztelurrutia T, and Dufty JW
- Abstract
Studies of charge-charge (ion-ion, ion-electron, and electron-electron) coupling properties for ion impurities in an electron gas are carried out on the basis of a regularized electron-ion potential without short-range Coulomb divergence. This work is motivated, in part, by questions arising from recent spectroscopic measurements revealing discrepancies with present-day theoretical descriptions. Many of the current radiative property models for plasmas include only single electron-emitter collisions and neglect some or all charge-charge interactions. A molecular-dynamics simulation of dipole relaxation is proposed here to allow proper account of many electron-emitter interactions and all charge-charge couplings. As illustrations, molecular-dynamics simulations are reported for the cases of a single ion embedded in an electron plasma and for a two-component ion-electron plasma. Charge-charge coupling effects are discussed for hydrogen-like Balmer alpha lines at weak coupling conditions.
- Published
- 2005
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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