An analysis of Martian photometry and polarimetry

The physical parameters that influence the photometric and polarimetric properties of a solid are enumerated and used to guide a comparison of laboratory measurements with observations of Mars. Both the bright and dark areas of Mars are found to be covered by a fine powder. Furthermore, they appear to have a very similar chemical composition. It is argued that goethite is a major constituent of both regions. The particles on the bright areas are characterized by an average particle radius of 25 , while those on the dark areas have a mean size of 100 outside of the period of seasonal darkening and about 200 near the peak of the darkening. The seasonal darkening of the dark areas is the result of a change in the average particle dimension without an accompanying chemical change.The Martian atmosphere has much less of an influence on the photometric and polarimetric observations than was previously supposed. The observed lack of contrast in the blue appears to be largely the result of an intrinsic loss of surface contrast, and not an effect of a hypothetical atmospheric blue haze.

---

Résumé Les paramètres physiques qui influencent les propriétés photométriques et polarimétriques d'un solide sont énumérés et utilisés pour conduire une comparaison entre des mesures de laboratoire et des observations de Mars. On trouve que les régions brillantes et les régions sombres de Mars sont couvertes d'une fine poudre. En outre, elles paraissent avoir des compositions chimiques très semblables. Il est soutenu que la goethite est un constituant majeur des deux régions. Les particules des régions brillantes sont caractérisées par un rayon moyen de 25 , tandis que celles des régions sombres ont une taille moyenne de 100 en dehors de la période d'assombrissement saisonnier, et d'environ 200 près du maximum d'assombrissement. L'assombrissement saisonnier des régions sombres est le résultat d'une variation de la dimension moyenne des particules, non accompagné d'un changement chimique.L'influence de l'atmosphère Martienne sur les observations photométriques et polarimétriques est bien inférieure à ce qui était supposé antérieurement. Le manque de contraste que l'on observe dans le bleu, parait être principalement une conséquencede la perte de contraste de surface, et non pas un effet d'un hypothétique halo atmosphérique bleu.

---

---

This work was supported in part by grants NGR-09-015-023 and NGR-33-010-082 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A preliminary account was published as Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Special Report 258 (1967). This paper is dedicated to the memory of V. V. Sharonov.     

Comments on Stabilization of a Satellite

An expression is derived for the cost resultingfrom the stabilization of a satellite using aspecific optimal control (SOC). An exampleis given in which the optimal and SOC yieldvirtually identical costs.     

Solar Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy

Interactions of ions accelerated in solar flares produce gamma-ray lines and continuum and neutrons. These emissions contain a rich set of observables that provides information about both the accelerated ions and the environment where the ions are transported and interact. Ion interactions with the various nuclei present in the ambient medium produce gamma-ray lines at unique energies. How abundance information is extracted from the measurements is discussed and results from analyses of a number of solar flares are presented. The analyses indicate that the composition of the ambient gas where the ions interact (typically at chromospheric densities) is different from that of the photosphere and more like the composition of the corona, exhibiting low-FIP elemental enhancements that may vary from flare to flare. Evidence for increased Ne/O and the photospheric ³He abundance is also discussed.     

The Local Bubble and Interstellar Material Near the Sun

The properties of interstellar matter at the Sun are regulated by our location with respect to a void in the local matter distribution, known as the Local Bubble. The Local Bubble (LB) is bounded by associations of massive stars and fossil supernovae that have disrupted dense interstellar matter (ISM), driving low density intermediate velocity ISM into the void. The Sun appears to be located in one of these flows of low density material. This nearby interstellar matter, dubbed the Local Fluff, has a bulk velocity of ∼19 km s⁻¹ in the local standard of rest. The flow is coming from the direction of the gas and dust ring formed where the Loop I supernova remnant merges into the LB. Optical polarization data suggest that the local interstellar magnetic field lines are draped over the heliosphere. A longstanding discrepancy between the high thermal pressure of plasma filling the LB and low thermal pressures in the embedded Local Fluff cloudlets is partially mitigated when the ram pressure component parallel to the cloudlet flow direction is included.     

Adaptive cancellation method for geometry-induced nonstationary bistatic clutter environments

This paper describes and characterizes a new bistatic space-time adaptive processing (STAP) clutter mitigation method. The approach involves estimating and compensating aspects of the spatially varying bistatic clutter response in both angle and Doppler prior to adaptive clutter suppression. An important feature of the proposed method is its ability to extract requisite implementation information from the data itself, rather than rely on ancillary - and possibly erroneous or missing - system measurements. We justify the essence of the proposed method by showing its ability to align the dominant clutter subspaces of each range realization relative to a suitably chosen reference point as a means of homogenizing the space-time data set. Moreover, we numerically characterize performance using synthetic bistatic clutter data. For the examples considered herein, the proposed bistatic STAP method leads to maximum performance improvements between 17.25 dB and 20.75 dB relative to traditional STAP application, with average improvements of 6 dB to 10 dB.     

Remote data sensing using SAR and harmonic reradiators

In sensor networks distributed over large areas, communication by means of active transmitters on sensor nodes is inherently energy expensive and poses a significant bottleneck to achieve a long battery life. We propose modulated reradiation of radar illumination as a means to transmit information from a group of sensors to an airborne radar. This puts the communications energy burden on the radar transmitter rather than on the sensor nodes, thus increasing their battery lifetimes. To distinguish the sensor return from the clutter return, the modulation on the sensors is done by switching a nonlinear load on the sensor antenna and processing the harmonic reradiation. We present techniques to transmit information from the sensors, which use stripmap mode synthetic aperture radar (SAR) ideas to decode the information and to simultaneously obtain a geographic map of the sensor locations.     

Exploiting GNSS signal structure to enhance observability

There are a number of different error sources, such as multipath and thermal noise, which corrupt satellite navigation waveforms from their theoretical structure. However, even under ideal conditions the broadcast signals have some degree of deformation as a result of the practical individual hardware implementation. For the most demanding users of satellite navigation, such as aircraft navigation and landing systems, it is important to characterize the nominal signal structure in order to detect minimal variations resulting from hardware-based errors. Thus far such precorrelation Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal quality monitoring has been performed through high gain antennas, which allow for raising the GNSS spectrum above the thermal noise floor and observing the structure of the signal directly at the front end output. This paper describes a new approach to achieve such observability based on signal processing techniques, such as dithering and averaging, which leverage the repetitive nature of the GNSS signal. The paper presents how these techniques can drastically improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in postprocessing, allowing for the direct analysis of GNSS signals using traditional front end designs and conventional antennas. Results are predicted using the appropriate theory and validated using data collected from the Global Positioning System (GPS).     

The Solar Chemical Composition

We present our current knowledge of the solar chemical composition based on the recent significant downward revision of the solar photospheric abundances of the most abundant metals. These new solar abundances result from the use of a 3D hydrodynamic model of the solar atmosphere instead of the classical 1D hydrostatic models, accounting for departures from LTE, and improved atomic and molecular data. With these abundances, the new solar metallicity, Z, decreases to Z=0.012, almost a factor of two lower than earlier widely used values. We compare our values with data from other sources and analyse a number of impacts of these new photospheric abundances. While resolving a number of longstanding problems, the new 3D-based solar photospheric composition also poses serious challenges for the standard solar model as judged by helioseismology.     

Observations of loops and prominences

We review recent observations by the Yohkoh-SXT in collaboration with other spacecraft and ground-based observatories of coronal loops and prominences. These new results point to problems that SoHO will be able to address. With a unique combination of rapid-cadence digital imaging (32 s full-disk and 2 s partial-frame images), high spatial resolution (2.5 arcsec pixels), high sensitivity (EM 10⁴² cm^–3), a low-scatter mirror, and large dynamic range, SXT can observe a vast range of targets on the Sun. Over the first 21 months of Yohkoh operations, SXT has taken over one million images of the corona and so is building up an invaluable long-term database on the large-scale corona and loop geometry. The most striking thing about the SXT images is the range of loop sizes and shapes. The active regions are a bright tangle of magnetic field lines, surrounded by a network of large-scale quiet-Sun loops stretching over distances in excess of 10⁵ km. The cross-section of most loops seems to be constant. Loops displaying significant increase in the ratio of the footpoint to loop-top diameter () are the exception, not the rule, implying the presence of widespread currents in the corona.All magnetic structures show changes. Time scales range from seconds to months. The question of how these structures are formed, become filled with hot plasma, and are maintained is still open. While we see the propagation of brightenings along the length of active-region loops and in X-ray jets with velocities of several hundred km/s, much higher velocities are seen in the quiet Sun. In XBP flares, for example, velocities of over 1000 km/s are common. Active-region loops seem to be in constant motion, moving slowly outward, carrying plasma with them. During flares, loops often produce localized brightenings at the base and later at the apex of the loop. Quiescent filaments and prominences have been observed regularly. Their coronal manifestation seems to be an extended arcade of loops overlying the filament. Reliable alignment of the ground-based data with the X-ray images make it possible to make a detailed intercomparison of the hot and cold plasma structures over extended periods. Hence we are able to follow the long-term evolution of these structures and see how they become destabilized and erupt.