arXiv subjects

Liming Li

Publications and source records attributed to Liming Li.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Keys of a Mission to Uranus or Neptune, the Closest Ice Giants

Uranus and Neptune are the archetypes of "ice giants", a class of planets that may be among the most common in the Galaxy. They hold the keys to understand the atmospheric dynamics and structure of planets with hydrogen atmospheres inside and outside the solar system; however, they are also the last unexplored planets of the Solar System. Their atmospheres are active and storms are believed to be fueled by methane condensation which is both extremely abundant and occurs at low optical depth. This means that mapping temperature and methane abundance as a function of position and depth will inform us on how convection organizes in an atmosphere with no surface and condensates that are heavier than the surrounding air, a general feature of giant planets. Owing to the spatial and temporal variability of these atmospheres, an orbiter is required. A probe would provide a reference atmospheric profile to lift ambiguities inherent to remote observations. It would also measure the abundances of noble gases which can be used to reconstruct the history of planet formation in the Solar System. Finally, mapping the planets' gravity and magnetic fields will be essential to constrain their global composition, atmospheric dynamics, structure and evolution. An exploration of Uranus or Neptune will be essential to understand these planets and will also be key to constrain and analyze data obtained at Jupiter, Saturn, and for numerous exoplanets with hydrogen atmospheres.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

Disruption of Saturn's Quasi-Periodic Equatorial Oscillation by the Great Northern Storm

Observations of planets throughout our Solar System have revealed that the Earth is not alone in possessing natural, inter-annual atmospheric cycles. The equatorial middle atmospheres of the Earth, Jupiter and Saturn all exhibit a remarkably similar phenomenon - a vertical, cyclic pattern of alternating temperatures and zonal (east-west) wind regimes that propagate slowly downwards with a well-defined multi-Earth-year period. Earth's Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO, observed in the lower stratospheres with an average period of 28 months) is one of the most regular, repeatable cycles exhibited by our climate system, and yet recent work has shown that this regularity can be disrupted by events occurring far away from the equatorial region, an example of a phenomenon known as atmospheric teleconnection. Here we reveal that Saturn's equatorial Quasi-Periodic Oscillation (QPO, with a ~15-year period) can also be dramatically perturbed. An intense springtime storm erupted at Saturn's northern mid-latitudes in December 2010, spawning a gigantic hot vortex in the stratosphere at $40^\circ$N that persisted for 3 years. Far from the storm, the Cassini temperature measurements showed a dramatic $\sim10$-K cooling in the 0.5-5 mbar range across the entire equatorial region, disrupting the regular QPO pattern and significantly altering the middle-atmospheric wind structure, suggesting an injection of westward momentum into the equatorial wind system from waves generated by the northern storm. Hence, as on Earth, meteorological activity at mid-latitudes can have a profound effect on the regular atmospheric cycles in the tropics, demonstrating that waves can provide horizontal teleconnections between the phenomena shaping the middle atmospheres of giant planets.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2018

The Mid-IR Albedo of Neptune Derived from Spitzer Observations

Mid-IR albedo values of Neptune are derived from Spitzer Space Telescope measurements reported by Stauffer et al. (2016). The method of this derivation is described and the results indicate that the geometric albedo was about 1% or less at the time of the observations in 2016. Short-term mid-IR variability of Neptune, evidenced by the Spitzer observations themselves, indicates an albedo at 3.6 microns ranging from 0.2% to 0.6% with a mean of 0.4%. The corresponding albedos at 4.5 microns are 0.7%, 1.3% and 0.9%. Furthermore, the 60-year history of visible-light brightness variations, which show that Neptune was significantly fainter a few decades ago, suggests that the mid-IR albedo during that earlier period of time may have been much less than 1%. The albedo values reported here can have implications for models of Neptune's atmosphere. However, the mid-IR brightness of Neptune cannot contribute very strongly to its total albedo because the Sun emits only about 2% of its flux long-ward of 3 micron. By contrast, the Sun emits 42% of its flux at visible and near-UV wavelengths where the planet's albedo is in the tens of percents.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2016

Reflected Light Curves, Spherical and Bond Albedos of Jupiter- and Saturn-like Exoplanets

Reflected light curves observed for exoplanets indicate bright clouds at some of them. We estimate how the light curve and total stellar heating of a planet depend on forward and backward scattering in the clouds based on Pioneer and Cassini spacecraft images of Jupiter and Saturn. We fit analytical functions to the local reflected brightnesses of Jupiter and Saturn depending on the planet's phase. These observations cover broad bands at 0.59-0.72 and 0.39-0.5 μm, and narrow bands at 0.938 (atmospheric window), 0.889 (CH4 absorption band), and 0.24-0.28 μm. We simulate the images of the planets with a ray-tracing model, and disk-integrate them to produce the full-orbit light curves. For Jupiter, we also fit the modeled light curves to the observed full-disk brightness. We derive spherical albedos for Jupiter, Saturn, and for planets with Lambertian and Rayleigh-scattering atmospheres. Jupiter-like atmospheres can produce light curves that are a factor of two fainter at half-phase than the Lambertian planet, given the same geometric albedo at transit. The spherical albedo is typically lower than for a Lambertian planet by up to a factor of 1.5. The Lambertian assumption will underestimate the absorption of the stellar light and the equilibrium temperature of the planetary atmosphere. We also compare our light curves with the light curves of solid bodies: the moons Enceladus and Callisto. Their strong backscattering peak within a few degrees of opposition (secondary eclipse) can lead to an even stronger underestimate of the stellar heating.

astro-ph.EP↗