Constraining Titan's Seasonal Tropospheric Haze Distribution

限制泰坦的季节性对流层霾分布

• 批准号: 2307894
• 负责人: Paul Corlies
• 金额: $ 48.9万
• 依托单位: Spectral Sciences Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2307894&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Constraining; Titan; Seasonal; Tropospheric; Haze

Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is unlike any other moon in the solar system. A thick hazy atmosphere enshrouds the moon and affects the composition of Titan's lakes and erosion of the surface. The project will model the seasonal abundance and distribution of this unique haze in order to understand the physical processes that drive the circulation of the atmosphere. This project will engage the broader community through the development of user-friendly GUIs that will introduce current graduate and undergraduate students to the complex physical processes behind radiative transfer codes. This work will stimulate a unique partnership between academia and industry that will enhance the scientific return of atmospheric models essential to the planetary community. Understanding the global distribution and properties of Titan’s hazes is paramount for revealing the critical roles hazes play in global circulation, radiative balance and atmospheric chemistry. To date, it has been difficult to constrain the circulation and distribution of aerosols due to the inability of current radiation transfer codes to accurately model the complex absorption and scattering effects in the atmosphere. This program will explore the seasonal and dynamical connections between Titan’s upper and lower atmospheres. The project will expand two principal radiative transfer codes to incorporate newly available methane line lists. The team will also improve the numerical treatment of atmospheric radiative-transfer equations to accurately model scattering, absorption, and emission in vertically inhomogeneous, non-isothermal, plane-parallel layers. The team will validate the models using a combination of ground and space-based observations of the Huygens landing site and will produce the first maps of the distribution of haze in Titan’s troposphere. The development of accurate radiative transfer codes is of vital importance to not only the Titan community but also for the (exo)planetary communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

泰坦是土星最大的卫星，与太阳系中的任何其他卫星都不同，它周围笼罩着一层厚厚的雾气，影响着泰坦湖泊的成分和地表的侵蚀，该项目将模拟这种独特的季节性丰度和分布。该项目将通过开发用户友好的图形用户界面吸引更广泛的社区，向当前的研究生和本科生介绍辐射传输代码工作背后的复杂物理过程。会刺激一个学术界和工业界之间的独特合作关系将增强对行星界至关重要的大气模型的科学回报，了解泰坦雾霾的全球分布和特性对于揭示雾霾在全球环流、辐射平衡和大气化学中的关键作用至关重要。迄今为止，由于当前的辐射传输代码无法准确模拟大气中复杂的吸收和散射效应，因此很难限制气溶胶的循环和分布。该计划将探索土卫六上部和上部之间的季节性和动态联系。该项目将扩展两个主要的辐射传输代码，以纳入新可用的甲烷线列表，该团队还将改进大气辐射传输方程的数值处理，以准确模拟垂直不均匀、非等温的散射、吸收和发射。该团队将结合地面和惠更斯着陆点的天基观测来验证模型，并绘制土卫六对流层雾霾分布的第一张地图。准确的辐射传输代码的开发不仅对泰坦社区而且对（外）行星社区都至关重要。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。