Title:  Jupiter: a Study of Atmospheric Composition, Structure, and Dynamics using Microwave Techniques

Committee: 

Dr. Steffes, Advisor      

Dr. Cohen, Chair

Dr. Peterson

Abstract:

The objective of the proposed research is to advance the understanding of Jupiter’s atmospheric composition, structure, and dynamics through microwave radiometry. This work includes laboratory measurements which have been used to refine previously-existing models for the microwave opacity of gaseous ammonia and water vapor. Additionally, this work involves integration of these new models, plus an additional model (derived as part of this work) for the microwave opacity of potential precipitation, into an existing forward model for emission from the jovian atmosphere. Finally, the forward model will be used to train a neural network-based retrieval algorithm, which will be applied to data currently being collected from the Mission Juno Microwave Radiometer (MWR) so as to derive abundances of ammonia and water vapor and to potentially detect the presence of virga.