Observational evidence of the meteoritic bombardment

1967 ◽  
Vol 296 (1446) ◽  
pp. 316-319
Keyword(s):  
Surface Layer ◽  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Observational Evidence ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Earth’S Atmosphere ◽  
Earth's Atmosphere ◽  
The Impact

Prima facie evidence for the meteoritic bombardment of the Moon is given by the known meteoritic environment of the Earth’s atmosphere. The impact by particles of different sizes and the likely damage to the lunar surface are discussed, reference being made to terrestrial craters and experiments with hypervelocity projectiles. An attempt is made to reconcile the formation and distribution of certain features with the results of meteoritic bombard­ment. In a number of instances the reconciliation is unsatisfactory and it is likely that the cause may be internal. It is pointed out that once a surface layer of dust has been formed, the effect of subsequent impacts by the smaller particles will only very slowly increase the depth.

Future lunar missions and investigation of dusty plasma processes on the Moon

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
SERGEY I. POPEL ◽  
LEV M. ZELENYI
Keyword(s):  
Dusty Plasma ◽  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Maximum Height ◽  
Charged Dust ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Plasma System ◽  
Lunar Dust ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Dusty Plasma System

AbstractFrom the Apollo era of exploration, it was discovered that sunlight was scattered at the terminators giving rise to “horizon glow” and “streamers” above the lunar surface. Subsequent investigations have shown that the sunlight was most likely scattered by electrostatically charged dust grains originating from the surface. A renaissance is being observed currently in investigations of the Moon. The Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource missions (the latter jointly with India) are being prepared in Russia. Some of these missions will include investigations of lunar dust. Here we discuss the future experimental investigations of lunar dust within the missions of Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource. We consider the dusty plasma system over the lunar surface and determine the maximum height of dust rise. We describe mechanisms of formation of the dusty plasma system over the Moon and its main properties, determine distributions of electrons and dust over the lunar surface, and show a possibility of rising dust particles over the surface of the illuminated part of the Moon in the entire range of lunar latitudes. Finally, we discuss the effect of condensation of micrometeoriod substance during the expansion of the impact plume and show that this effect is important from the viewpoint of explanation of dust particle rise to high altitudes in addition to the dusty plasma effects.

scholarly journals High-resolution spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry of the total lunar eclipse January 2019

2020 ◽  
Vol 635 ◽  
pp. A156
Author(s):  
K. G. Strassmeier ◽  
I. Ilyin ◽  
E. Keles ◽  
M. Mallonn ◽  
A. Järvinen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Solar Spectrum ◽  
High Resolution Spectroscopy ◽  
Strong Increase ◽  
Lunar Eclipse ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Earth’S Atmosphere ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Earth's Atmosphere

Context. Observations of the Earthshine off the Moon allow for the unique opportunity to measure the large-scale Earth atmosphere. Another opportunity is realized during a total lunar eclipse which, if seen from the Moon, is like a transit of the Earth in front of the Sun. Aims. We thus aim at transmission spectroscopy of an Earth transit by tracing the solar spectrum during the total lunar eclipse of January 21, 2019. Methods. Time series spectra of the Tycho crater were taken with the Potsdam Echelle Polarimetric and Spectroscopic Instrument (PEPSI) at the Large Binocular Telescope in its polarimetric mode in Stokes IQUV at a spectral resolution of 130 000 (0.06 Å). In particular, the spectra cover the red parts of the optical spectrum between 7419–9067 Å. The spectrograph’s exposure meter was used to obtain a light curve of the lunar eclipse. Results. The brightness of the Moon dimmed by 10.m75 during umbral eclipse. We found both branches of the O2 A-band almost completely saturated as well as a strong increase of H2O absorption during totality. A pseudo O2 emission feature remained at a wavelength of 7618 Å, but it is actually only a residual from different P-branch and R-branch absorptions. It nevertheless traces the eclipse. The deep penumbral spectra show significant excess absorption from the Na I 5890-Å doublet, the Ca II infrared triplet around 8600 Å, and the K I line at 7699 Å in addition to several hyper-fine-structure lines of Mn I and even from Ba II. The detections of the latter two elements are likely due to an untypical solar center-to-limb effect rather than Earth’s atmosphere. The absorption in Ca II and K I remained visible throughout umbral eclipse. Our radial velocities trace a wavelength dependent Rossiter-McLaughlin effect of the Earth eclipsing the Sun as seen from the Tycho crater and thereby confirm earlier observations. A small continuum polarization of the O2 A-band of 0.12% during umbral eclipse was detected at 6.3σ. No line polarization of the O2 A-band, or any other spectral-line feature, is detected outside nor inside eclipse. It places an upper limit of ≈0.2% on the degree of line polarization during transmission through Earth’s atmosphere and magnetosphere.

scholarly journals The Influence of Heterogeneity on Lunar Irradiance Based on Multiscale Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 2696
Author(s):  
Xiangzhao Zeng ◽  
Chuanrong Li
Keyword(s):  
Correction Factor ◽  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Multiscale Analysis ◽  
Radiometric Calibration ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Model Data ◽  
Lunar Topography ◽  
Satellite Sensors ◽  
Observation Geometry ◽  
The Impact

The Moon is a stable light source for the radiometric calibration of satellite sensors. It acts as a diffuse panel that reflects sunlight in all directions, however, the lunar surface is heterogeneous due to its topography and different mineral content and chemical composition at different locations, resulting in different optical properties. In order to perform radiometric calibration using the Moon, a lunar irradiance model using different observation geometry is required. Currently, two lunar irradiance models exist, namely, the Robotic Lunar Observatory (ROLO) and the Miller and Turner 2009 (MT2009). The ROLO lunar irradiance model is widely used as the radiometric standard for on-orbit sensors. The MT2009 lunar irradiance model is popular for remote sensing at night, however, the original version of the MT2009 lunar irradiance model takes less consideration of the heterogeneous lunar surface and lunar topography. Since the heterogeneity embedded in the lunar surface is the key to the improvement of the lunar irradiance model, this study analyzes the influence of the heterogeneous surface on the irradiance of moonlight based on model data at different scales. A heterogeneous correction factor is defined to describe the impact of the heterogeneous lunar surface on lunar irradiance. On the basis of the analysis, the following conclusions can be made. First, the influence of heterogeneity in the waning hemisphere is greater than that in waxing hemisphere under all 32 wavelengths of the ROLO filters. Second, the influence of heterogeneity embedded in the lunar surface exerts less impact on lunar irradiance at lower resolution. Third, the heterogeneous correction factor is scale independent. Finally, the lunar irradiance uncertainty introduced by topography is very small and decreases as the resolution of model data decreases due to the loss of topographic information.

scholarly journals Restoring the top-of-atmosphere reflectance during solar eclipses: a proof of concept with the UV Absorbing Aerosol Index measured by TROPOMI

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Trees ◽  
Ping Wang ◽  
Piet Stammes
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Color Change ◽  
Solar Limb ◽  
Correction Method ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Earth’S Atmosphere ◽  
Earth's Atmosphere ◽  
Solar Eclipses ◽  
Limb Darkening ◽  
Aerosol Index

Abstract. Solar eclipses reduce the measured top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectances as derived by Earth observation satellites, because the solar irradiance that is used to compute these reflectances is commonly measured before the start of the eclipse. Consequently, air quality products that are derived from these spectra, such as the ultraviolet (UV) Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI), are distorted or undefined in the shadow of the Moon. The availability of air quality satellite data in the penumbral and antumbral shadow during solar eclipses, however, may be of particular interest to users studying solar eclipses and their effect on the Earth's atmosphere. Given the time and location of a point on the Earth's surface, we explain how to compute the eclipse obscuration fraction taking into account wavelength dependent solar limb darkening. With the calculated obscuration fractions, we restore the TOA reflectances and the AAI in the penumbral shadow during the annular solar eclipses on 26 December 2019 and 21 June 2020 measured by the TROPOMI/S5P instrument. We verify the calculated obscuration with the observed obscuration using an uneclipsed orbit. In the corrected products, the signature of the Moon shadow disappeared. Not taking into account solar limb darkening, however, would result in a maximum underestimation of the obscuration fraction of 0.06 at 380 nm on 26 December 2019, and in a maximum Moon shadow signature in the AAI of 6.7 points increase. We find that the Moon shadow anomaly in the uncorrected AAI is caused by a reduction of the measured reflectance at 380 nm, rather than a color change of the measured light. We restore common AAI features such as the sunglint and desert dust, and we confirm the restored AAI feature on 21 June 2020 at the Taklamakan desert by measurements of the GOME-2C satellite instrument on the same day but outside the Moon shadow. We conclude that the correction method of this paper can be used to detect real AAI rising phenomena and has the potential to restore any other product that is derived from TOA reflectance spectra. This would resolve the solar eclipse anomalies in satellite air quality measurements in the penumbra and antumbra, and would allow for studying the effect of the eclipse obscuration on the composition of the Earth's atmosphere from space.

INFLUENCE OF THE MANAGED FORESTS ON CO2 BALANCE IN EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-66
Author(s):  
Gennadiy BULATKIN
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Costs ◽  
Power Input ◽  
Nitrogen Fertilizers ◽  
Total Power ◽  
Natural Form ◽  
Earth’S Atmosphere ◽  
Aspen Tree ◽  
Co2 Balance ◽  
Earth's Atmosphere ◽  
The Impact

Technical energy costs required for forest cultivation, estimation of C-CO2 fluxes in model experiments with coniferous species of pine Pinus sylvestris L. and leaves species, natural form and gene modified clone of the ordinary aspen tree Populus tremula L., have been analyzed. At plantation cultivation of transgenic aspen clone with nitrogen fertilizers indirect costs of technical energy made up 85 % of total power input. A new three-stage method has been developed for assessing the impact of forests on the CO2 balance in the Earth's atmosphere. The final value of CO2 sink from the atmosphere at afforestation depends on the way wood is used.

4. Atmospheric composition

2017 ◽  
pp. 65-92
Author(s):  
Paul I. Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Ultraviolet Radiation ◽  
Atmospheric Aerosols ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Ultraviolet B ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Earth’S Atmosphere ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone Layer ◽  
History Of ◽  
Earth's Atmosphere ◽  
The Impact

Nitrogen, oxygen, and argon represent more than 99.9% of the air we breathe. But Earth’s atmosphere hasn’t always had that composition—it is on at least its third distinctive atmosphere. ‘Atmospheric composition’ provides a brief history of Earth’s atmosphere, before considering the two most important regions of the atmosphere for human survival—the stratosphere and troposphere. The stratospheric ozone layer shields harmful ultraviolet-B light penetrating to the surface, thereby protecting humans and ecosystems from harmful ultraviolet radiation. The troposphere is where billions of people live and breathe. It is also where air pollutants are emitted, wildfires burn, vegetation grows, and where the oceans exchange gases. The impact of atmospheric aerosols and greenhouse gases is also discussed.

Lunar Luminescence

1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 445-452
Author(s):  
J. F. Grainger ◽  
J. Ring
Keyword(s):  
The Moon ◽  
Earth’S Atmosphere ◽  
Eclipse Observations ◽  
Powerful Approach ◽  
Surface Luminescence ◽  
Earth's Atmosphere ◽  
Line Depth

Photometry Of the penumbra of lunar eclipses over a considerable number of years has shown an excess of light over that which can be reasonably explained as an effect of the Earth's atmosphere. Link [1, 2] introduced the hypothesis of surface luminescence on the Moon and showed that it could account for the eclipse phenomenon. However, it is clear that eclipse observations cannot be used to investigate the detailed spectrum and distribution of the luminescent regions. A more powerful approach was suggested by Link [3] which has subsequently been called the “line depth” method.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document