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Methods for deriving temperature profiles of Mars from OH Meinel airglow observations

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dc.contributor.advisorMcDade, Ian
dc.contributor.advisorMcConnell, John
dc.creatorConway, Stephanie Araz
dc.date.accessioned2016-08-03T16:51:46Z
dc.date.available2016-08-03T16:51:46Z
dc.date.copyright2012-03
dc.degree.disciplineEarth & Space Science
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractObservations of the OH Meinel Band airglow emission from vibrationally excited ground electronic state OH radicals have long been used to gain valuable information about the dynamics and state of the upper atmosphere of Earth. In this work, we attempt to develop methods for use in the Martian atmosphere. The middle Martian atmosphere is a layer of rich dynamics, such as planetary and gravity waves, however it is not well understood. It is important to develop methodologies to aid in achieving a better understanding of this part of the Martian atmosphere. In this work, methods for the retrieval of temperatures and OH Meinel Band volume emission rates from possible future limb observations of the Martian atmosphere are developed and compared with the goal of determining general instrument requirements for the observation and analysis of yet to be detected emissions of the Martian nighttime OH Meinel Band airglow. To this end, a non-linear fitting algorithm is developed to fit modelled wavelength bin radiance spectra to observations to recover temperatures and total vibrational level volume emission rates. Three different approaches for retrieval are developed: an Onion Peeling approach, a Global Optimization approach and an approach using Derived Absolute Wavelength Bin Radiance Spectra. The Global Optimization method is found to be the most robust and is used to estimate the order of magnitude of instrument optical properties necessary for the detection of the emission and the retrieval of temperatures and emission rates. The results of this investigation will advance the application of remote sensing techniques to planetary atmospheres. The developed retrieval methods are flexible and, as such, are not limited in application to the Martian OH Meinel Band airglow. They can be used on any planet where emissions of OH Meinel Band airglow have been observed, such as Venus.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/31703
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subject.keywordsmars
dc.subject.keywordstemperature profiles
dc.subject.keywordsOH Meinel airglow observations
dc.subject.keywordsOH Meinel Band airglow emission
dc.subject.keywordsremote sensing
dc.subject.keywordsplanetary atmospheres
dc.subject.keywordsspace
dc.subject.keywordsplanets
dc.titleMethods for deriving temperature profiles of Mars from OH Meinel airglow observations
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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