Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Oct 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.0911m&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #9.11; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.956
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Both Triton and Pluto are known to possess thin N2 atmospheres with surface pressures in the range of 10 microbars in vapor pressure equilibrium with N2 surface frosts. We present initial results of a 3-D dynamical model of a microbar N2 atmosphere using an adaptation of the Ames Mars General Circulation Model (GCM) version 2.0. The Ames GCM incorporates several physical processes critical to modeling the atmospheres of Triton and Pluto, including condensation and sublimation of the main atmospheric constituent gas as well as subsurface storage and release of heat. We altered the Ames GCM to simulate conditions found on Triton. These alterations included changing the size, rotation rate, orbital inclination, surface gravity, and distance to the Sun of the parent body, which produced the appropriate insolation at the top of the atmosphere. We also changed the gas properties from those of a CO2 atmosphere in the original Ames GCM to those of an N2 atmosphere, including values for latent heat, specific heat, and the proper vapor pressure-temperature relationship for N2 frosts. We chose albedo and emissivity values for the surface substrate and N2 frost from published values based on global thermal simulations of Triton. We ran simulations covering 70 Triton days (or 411 Earth days) to allow for the establishment of equilibrium between the surface pressure and the temperature of the surface frosts. We examine the role of albedo and emissivity on the pattern of surface frosts after initial spin-up of the GCM. We also present results of simulations that employ a Newtonian cooling algorithm based on published temperature-pressure profiles from stellar occultations by Triton. This study was funded by a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship through grant number NNX09AQ96H.
Chanover Nancy Janet
Miller Charles
Murphy Ronald J.
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