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T. Temma, N. Chanover (New Mexico State University), A. Simon-Miller, D. Glenar (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center), J. Hillman (University of Maryland), D. Kuehn (Pittsburg State University)
We analyzed our 2002 imaging data set obtained with the Acousto-optic Imaging Spectrometer (AImS) at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex. Among a wide spectral coverage of our data set (600 - 950 nm), we fitted 7, 10 and 6 center-limb profiles around the 619, 727 and 890 nm methane bands, respectively, with theoretically computed profiles generated from radiative transfer computations to determine the aerosol property variation as a function of wavelength. We modeled the equatorial region (-10\circ) and two southern latitudes of Saturn (-31\circ, -42\circ) to study Saturn's vertical cloud structure and its latitudinal variation. At each latitude, four cloud structures and three aerosol scattering phase functions were tested, and a total of about 10000 initial conditions were used to seek acceptable cloud structures at each latitude. We present the results of these modeling simulations and how those results are affected by the assumed atmospheric compositions.
The US Air Force provided the telescope time, on-site support and 80% of research funds for this AFOSR and NSF jointly sponsored research under grant number NSF AST-0123443.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #4
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.