Planetary Climates

287 Pages·2013·5.27 MB·English

by  Andrew Ingersoll

Planetary Climates
ChaPter
Princeton Primers in Climate
David Archer, The Global Carbon Cycle
Geoffrey K. Vallis, Climate and the Oceans
Shawn J. Marshall, The Cryosphere
David Randall, Atmosphere, Clouds, and Climate
David Schimel, Climate and Ecosystems
Michael Bender, Paleoclimate
Andrew P. Ingersoll, Planetary Climates
ii
Planetary Climates
Andrew P. Ingersoll
princeton university press Princeton & Oxford
iii
Copyright © 2013 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New
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All Rights Reserved
ISBN 978-0-691-14504-4
ISBN (pbk.) 978-0-691-14505-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013939167
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Contents
1 Introduction: The Diversity of Planetary Climates 1
2 Venus: Atmospheric Evolution 7
3 Venus: Energy Transport and Winds 26
4 Mars: Long-Term Climate Change 74
5 Mars: The Present Era 92
6 Titan, Moons, and Small Planets 111
7 Jupiter the Gas Giant 136
8 Jupiter Winds and Weather 162
9 Saturn 202
10 Uranus, Neptune, and Exoplanets 223
11 Conclusion 240
Glossary 247
Notes 257
Further Reading 271
Index 273

Planetary Climates

1 introduCtion:
the diversity of
Planetary Climates
Climate is the average weather—long-term
properties of the atmosphere like temperature, wind,
cloudiness, and precipitation, and properties of the sur-
face like snow, glaciers, rivers, and oceans. Earth has a
wide range of climates, but the range among the planets
is much greater. Studying the climates of other planets
helps us understand the basic physical processes in a
larger context. One learns which factors are important in
setting the climate and how they interact.
Earth is the only planet with water in all three phases—
solid, liquid, and gas. Mars has plenty of water, but it’s al-
most all locked up in the polar caps as ice. There’s a small
amount of water vapor in its atmosphere but no stand-
ing bodies of liquid water. Venus has a small amount of
water vapor in its atmosphere, but the Venus surface is
hot enough to melt lead and is too hot for solid or liquid
water. Thus by human standards, Venus is too hot and
Mars is too cold. The classic “habitable zone,” where
Earth resides and life evolved, lies in between.
Things get strange in the outer solar system. Titan, a
moon of Saturn, has rivers and lakes, but they’re made
of methane, which we know as natural gas. The giant