Comparative Climatology of Terrestrial Planets
Publication Year: 2014
Deducing the initial conditions for these diverse worlds and unraveling how and why they diverged to their current climates is a challenge at the forefront of planetary science. Through the contributions of more than sixty leading experts in the field, Comparative Climatology of Terrestrial Planets sets forth the foundations for this emerging new science and brings the reader to the forefront of our current understanding of atmospheric formation and climate evolution. Particular emphasis is given to surface-atmosphere interactions, evolving stellar flux, mantle processes, photochemistry, and interactions with the interplanetary environment, all of which influence the climatology of terrestrial planets. From this cornerstone, both current professionals and most especially new students are brought to the threshold, enabling the next generation of new advances in our own solar system and beyond.
Contents
Jim Hansen
Mark Bullock
Scot Rafkin
Caitlin Griffith
Shawn Domagal-Goldman and Antigona Segura
Kevin Zahnle
Part II: The Greenhouse Effect and Atmospheric Dynamics
Curt Covey
G. Schubert and J. Mitchell
Tim Dowling
Francois Forget and Sebastien Lebonnois
Vladimir Krasnopolsky
Adam Showman
Part III: Clouds, Hazes, and Precipitation
Larry Esposito
A. Määttänen, K. Pérot, F. Montmessin, and A. Hauchecorne
Nilton Renno
Zibi Turtle
Mark Marley
Part IV: Surface-Atmosphere Interactions
Colin Goldblatt
Teresa Segura et al.
John Grotzinger
Adrian Lenardic
D. A. Brain, F. Leblanc, J. G. Luhmann, T. E. Moore, and F. Tian
Part V: Solar Influences on Planetary Climate
Aaron Zent
Jerry Harder
F. Tian, E. Chassefiere, F. Leblanc, and D. Brain
David Des Marais
Published by: University of Arizona Press
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Cover
Title Page, Copyright Page
Contents
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pp. ix-x
List of Contributing Authors and Acknowledgment of Reviewers
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pp. xi-xii
Foreword by James E. Hansen
James E. Hansen
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pp. xiii-xvi
Comparative climatology of the terrestrial planets, including their evolution, provides a broad perspective that helps us understand consequences of human activity and assess actions needed to preserve the life and life support systems of our remarkable planet. Indeed, analysis of the range of climates that can occur within the habitable zone around any star helps us understand how difficult it is to achieve and maintain habitability, as illustrated by an example. Several decades ago planetary scientists puzzled over an enigma. How had Earth avoided the “snowball” fate when the solar system was young and the Sun was much dimmer than today? Energy-balance climate models showed...
Preface
Mark A. Bullock, Amy A. Simon-Miller, Jerald W. Harder, Stephen J. Mackwell
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pp. xvii-xviii
Public awareness of climate change on Earth is currently very high, promoting significant interest in atmospheric processes. We are fortunate to live in an era where it is possible to study the climates of many planets, including our own, using spacecraft and groundbased observations as well as advanced computational power that allows detailed modeling. Planetary atmospheric dynamics and structure are all governed by the same basic physics. Thus differences in the input variables (such as composition, internal structure, and solar radiation) among the known planets provide a broad suite of natural laboratory settings for gaining...
Part I: Foundations
Physical Processes Controlling Earth’s Climate
Anthony D. Del Genio
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pp. 3-18
The amazing diversity of atmospheric behavior seen in our own solar system represents a challenge to our fundamental understanding of atmospheric physics. The weather and climate of Earth, explored extensively during the past century, provide an invaluable basis for understanding this diversity. Yet Earth’s atmosphere occupies only one part of the parameter...
The Atmosphere and Climate of Venus
Mark A. Bullock, David H. Grinspoon
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pp. 19-54
Venus lies just sunward of the inner edge of the Sun’s habitable zone. Liquid water is not stable. Like Earth and Mars, Venus probably accreted at least an ocean’s worth of water, although there are alternative scenarios. The loss of this water led to the massive, dry CO2 atmosphere, extensive H2SO4 clouds (at least some of the time), and an intense CO2 greenhouse effect. This chapter describes the current understanding of Venus’ atmosphere, established from the data of dozens of spacecraft and atmospheric probe missions since 1962, and by telescopic observations since the nineteenth century. Theoretical work to model the temperature...
Mars: Atmosphere and Climate Overview
S. C. R. Rafkin, J. L. Hollingsworth, M. A. Mischna, C. E. Newman, M. I. Richardson
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pp. 55-90
Mars’ atmosphere shares a great number of similar physical properties, characteristics, and circulations with the atmospheres of Earth and the other terrestrial planets in the solar system. At the same time, differences in atmospheric gas, aerosol composition, mass, planetary size, and orbital characteristics, together with radiative processes, yield different climates. This chapter provides an overview of the current structure,...
Titan’s Evolving Climate
C. A. Griffith, J. L. Mitchell, P. Lavvas, G. Tobie
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pp. 91-120
Climatic conditions on Titan conjure an odd mixture of traits borrowed from Venus, Earth, and Mars. Titan has a N2-based atmosphere with a surface pressure of 1.45 bar, similar to Earth and distinct from other satellites. The total column density of Titan’s atmosphere (U) exceeds Earth’s and its surface temperature (Tsurf) varies little with season and region....
Exoplanet Climates
S. D. Domagal-Goldman, A. Segura
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pp. 121-136
Climatic conditions on Titan conjure an odd mixture of traits borrowed from Venus, Earth, and Mars. Titan has a N2-based atmosphere with a surface pressure of 1.45 bar, similar to Earth and distinct from other satellites. The total column density of Titan’s atmosphere (U) exceeds Earth’s and its surface temperature (Tsurf) varies little with season and region. The difference between Titan’s pole to equator surface...
The Atmospheres of the Terrestrial Planets: Clues to the Origins and Early Evolution of Venus, Earth, and Mars
K. H. Baines, S. K. Atreya, M. A. Bullock, D. H. Grinspoon, P. Mahaffy, C. T. Russell,G. Schubert, K. Zahnle
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pp. 137-160
has experienced a renaissance as space agencies in Europe, Japan, and America have developed and executed a number of missions to Earth’s neighbors. Since April 11, 2006, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Venus Express mission has been in orbit, scrutinizing Venus from the ground up. As such, it has...
Part II: Greenhouse Effect And Atmospheric Dynamics
The Greenhouse Effect and Climate Feedbacks
C. Covey, R. M. Haberle, C. P. McKay, D. V. Titov
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pp. 163-180
The greenhouse effect occurs when short-wavelength solar radiation penetrates an atmosphere more readily than the long-wavelength infrared radiation (IR) emanating from the surface and from the atmosphere itself. Fourier (1827) pointed out that this effect would warm Earth’s surface by trapping heat supplied by the Sun. He also noted that freely rising warm air — natural convection — would counteract the effect...
Planetary Atmospheres as Heat Engines
G. Schubert, J. L. Mitchell
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pp. 181-192
Earth’s atmosphere has long been described as a heat engine (Peixoto and Oort, 1992). It absorbs energy at higher temperatures than it reemits back to space and thus it can do work. The work generates motions that transport energy from hot regions at low latitudes and near the surface to cold regions at high latitudes and altitudes. In steady state, the time rate of generation...
Earth General Circulation Models
T. E. Dowling
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pp. 193-212
Aerosols produce a direct effect on climate by scattering and absorbing solar and infrared radiation, and an indirect effect by altering cloud processes via increases in cloud droplet number and ice particle concentration. The indirect effect increases the cloud albedo (Twomey, 1974) and decreases the precipitation efficiency of convective clouds (Albrecht, 1989...
Global Climate Models of the Terrestrial Planets
F. Forget, S. Lebonnois
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pp. 213-230
As discussed in the previous chapter (Dowling, this volume), many scientific teams around the world have over the past 40 years been developing Earth atmosphere numerical weather prediction models (to predict the weather a few days in advance) and global climate models (GCMs) to simulate the climate system and its long-term evolution. Such models...
Chemistry of the Atmospheres of Mars, Venus, and Titan
V. A. Krasnopolsky, F. Lefèvre
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pp. 231-276
Energies of the solar UV photons and energetic particles may be sufficient to break chemical bonds in atmospheric species and form new molecules, atoms, radicals, ions, and free electrons. These products initiate chemical reactions that further complicate the atmospheric composition, which is also significantly affected by dynamics and transport processes. Photochemical...
Atmospheric Circulation of Terrestrial Exoplanets
A. P. Showman, R. D. Wordsworth, T. M. Merlis, Y. Kaspi
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pp. 277-326
The study of planets around other stars is an exploding field. To date, numerous exoplanets have been discovered, spanning a wide range of masses, incident stellar fluxes, orbital periods, and orbital eccentricities. A variety of observing methods have allowed observational characterization of the atmospheres of these exoplanets, opening a new field in comparative climatology (for introductions, see Deming and Seager, 2009; Seager...
Part III: Clouds And Hazes
Clouds and Aerosols on the Terrestrial Planets
L. W. Esposito, A. Colaprete, J. English, R. M. Haberle, and M. A. Kahre
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pp. 329-354
Clouds and aerosols play a key role in climate models, and uncertainties in the effects of clouds provide the largest error source for predicting global warming. Earth aerosols affect climate through direct radiative changes, aerosolcloud interactions (indirect effects), atmospheric chemistry, snow albedo, and ocean biogeochemistry (Mahowald et al., 2011). Clouds...
The Lifting of Aerosols and Their Effects on Atmospheric Dynamics
N. O. Renno, D. Halleaux, H. Elliott, J. F. Kok
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pp. 355-366
Aerosols produce a direct effect on climate by scattering and absorbing solar and infrared radiation, and an indirect effect by altering cloud processes via increases in cloud droplet number and ice particle concentration. The indirect effect increases the cloud albedo (Twomey, 1974) and decreases the precipitation efficiency of convective clouds (Albrecht, 1989...
Clouds and Hazes in Exoplanet Atmospheres
M. S. Marley, A. S. Ackerman, J. N. Cuzzi, D. Kitzmann
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pp. 367-392
Clouds and hazes are found in every substantial solar system atmosphere and are likely ubiquitous in extrasolar planetary atmospheres as well. They provide sinks for volatile compounds and influence both the deposition of incident flux and the propagation of emitted thermal radiation. Consequently they affect the atmospheric thermal profile, the global climate, the spectra of scattered and emitted radiation, and the detectability by direct imaging of a planet. As other...
Mesospheric Clouds on Mars and on Earth
A. Määttänen, K. Pérot, F. Montmessin, A. Hauchecorne
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pp. 393-414
A multitude of clouds and hazes are observed in the atmospheres of terrestrial planets; these clouds and hazes are formed by the particular vapors that are available in the atmosphere in question. Cloud droplets in Earth, Venus, and Titan are composed of a variety of species, and form mainly in the lower part of the atmosphere. Ice crystals form as well, at least...
Part IV: Surface And Interior
The Effects of Impacts on the Climates of Terrestrial Planets
T. L. Segura, K. Zahnle, O. B. Toon, C. P. McKay
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pp. 417-438
The surfaces of Venus, Mars, Titan, and Earth collectively show thousands of craters and impact basins. These impacts of asteroids and comets have affected planetary climates since the formation of the solar system. Indeed, the bodies of the planets originated from planetesimal collisions. Impacts after planetary formation may have brought in most of the water and other atmospheric constituents on terrestrial planets. Impacts of...
Sedimentary Processes on Earth, Mars, Titan, and Venus
J. P. Grotzinger, A. G. Hayes, M. P. Lamb, S. M. McLennan
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pp. 439-472
The atmospheres of solid planets exert a fundamental control on their surfaces. Interactions between atmospheric and geologic processes influence the morphology and composition of surfaces, and over the course of geologic time determine the historical evolution of the planet’s surface environments including climate. In the case of Earth, the origin of life likely occurred within surface environments that were tuned to favor...
Mantle Convection and Outgassing on Terrestrial Planets
C. O’Neill, A. Lenardic, T. Höink, N. Coltice
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pp. 473-486
A fundamental question in planetary science is why two astronomically similar planets, like Venus and Earth, with similar mass, composition, and orbits (Kaula, 1999), might diverge down very different tectonic and atmospheric evolutionary paths. Geological evidence can give us insights into the tectonic regime of a planet through time, but is limited by the finite...
Planetary Magnetic Fields and Climate Evolution
D. A. Brain, F. Leblanc, J. G. Luhmann, T. E. Moore, F. Tian
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pp. 487-502
Planets and their atmospheres are influenced by magnetic fields. Aurora are perhaps the most visually striking example of this connection, and have been observed at many planetary bodies including Earth, Mars, the jovian planets, and three jovian moons (see review by Mauk and Bagenal, 2012). Magnetic fields may also influence the evolution of planetary surfaces in the absence of a substantial atmosphere...
Part V: Solar Influences
Orbital Drivers of Climate Change on Earth and Mars
A. P. Zent
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pp. 505-538
Terrestrial climate science, the precursor of all planetary climatology, began in the Swiss Alps. Nineteenth-century naturalists who were studying alpine glaciers and their effects on the landscape could not help but notice, when they came down the mountain, familiar features in places far removed from any glacier. It took decades to convince the geological community that the European climate had indeed changed substantially....
Solar Irradiance Variability and Its Impacts on the Earth Climate System
J. W. Harder, T. N. Woods
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pp. 539-566
In the 1965 edition of the classic book Physical Climatology, W. D. Sellers (Sellers, 1965) presents an estimate of the energy from the Sun intercepted by Earth and compares it with other large-scale energy sources that act continuously or quasi-continuously in the atmosphere and at its boundaries. He found that these combined sources are only about 0.025% of the input...
Atmosphere Escape and Climate Evolution of Terrestrial Planets
F. Tian, E. Chassefière, F. Leblanc, D. A. Brain
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pp. 567-582
From a kinetic point of view, any particle at the exobase with outgoing velocity exceeding the escape velocity of a planet can escape. The exobase is an altitude in the atmosphere beyond which few collisions between particles occur. High particle velocity can be achieved through a number of processes. Those processes in which the high velocity is linked to...
Planetary Climate and the Search for Life
D. J. Des Marais
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pp. 583-682
An ongoing key goal in space exploration is to determine whether life has ever existed anywhere beyond Earth. Finding life on another world would have an enormous impact both scientifically and socially. There is a broad societal interest especially in areas such as achieving a deeper understanding of life, searching for extraterrestrial biospheres, assessing the societal implications of discovering other examples of life, and extending the human presence in space to other worlds. Finding a second...
Index
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pp. 683-688
E-ISBN-13: 9780816599752
E-ISBN-10: 0816599750
Print-ISBN-13: 9780816530595
Print-ISBN-10: 0816530599
Page Count: 708
Illustrations: 102 photos, 283 figures
Publication Year: 2014
