ATMOSPHERIC MODELING INVOLVING THE CONDENSATION PROCESS SUCH AS IN PHOTOCHEMICAL OR MICROPHYSICAL MODELS REQUIRES KNOWLEDGE OF THE VAPOR PRESSURE OF THE CONDENSING SPECIES AS A FUNCTION OF TEMPERATURE. ADDITIONALLY LATENT HEAT VALUES WHICH CAN BE RELATED TO THE VAPOR PRESSURE THROUGH THE CLAUSIUS-CLAPEYRON EQUATION ARE IMPORTANT WHEN MODELING ENERGY TRANSPORT PROCESSES. ONLINE REFERENCE SITES SUCH AS THE NIST CHEMISTRY WEBBOOK CONTAIN FORMULATIONS OF THE VAPOR PRESSURE FOR MANY SPECIES FOUND IN THE PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. HOWEVER THE NIST EQUATIONS MOST OFTEN REPORT DATA FOR THE LIQUID PHASE WHEREAS AT THE COLDER TEMPERATURES IN OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM THESE SPECIES WOULD CONDENSE AS ICES. THERE HAVE BEEN SOME WORKS IN THE LITERATURE THAT COMPILE LISTS OF VAPOR PRESSURE EQUATIONS AND DATA POINTS FOR SUBLIMATION BUT AN ONLINE DATABASE ALLOWING THE USER TO PERFORM CALCULATIONS OR CREATE PLOTS OVER A DESIRED TEMPERATURE RANGE IS LACKING. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: IN ORDER TO PROVIDE THE PLANETARY SCIENCE COMMUNITY WITH A SINGLE REPOSITORY A SET OF MODULES IN BOTH FORTRAN 90 AND PYTHON WILL BE CREATED. EACH MODULE WILL CONTAIN A SET OF FUNCTIONS FOR EACH VAPOR PRESSURE REFERENCE INCLUDING INFORMATION FROM THE PRIMARY SOURCE DETAILING THE TEMPERATURE RANGE OVER WHICH THE MEASUREMENTS WERE MADE ALLOWING THE USER TO CALCULATE VAPOR PRESSURE VALUES (AND LATENT HEAT) AS A FUNCTION OF INPUT TEMPERATURE. THE PYTHON CODE WILL ADDITIONALLY ALLOW FOR GRAPHICAL COMPARISON OF MULTIPLE REFERENCE EQUATIONS OVER A USER SPECIFIED RANGE OF TEMPERATURES TO CHECK FOR VALIDITY. BOTH SOLAR SYSTEM AND EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR THE LIST OF CONDENSING SPECIES. SIGNIFICANCE TO PDART: TWO ELEMENTS OF THE PDART PROGRAM ARE TO CREATE OR CONSOLIDATE REFERENCE DATABASES AND DEVELOP OR VALIDATE SOFTWARE TOOLS. WE WILL BE CONSOLIDATING INFORMATION FROM VARIOUS SOURCES INTO A SINGLE REPOSITORY FOR THE PLANETARY SCIENCE COMMUNITY TO ACCESS IN ORDER TO CALCULATE VAPOR PRESSURE AND LATENT HEAT VALUES AS A FUNCTION OF TEMPERATURE. WE WILL BE DEVELOPING NEW SOFTWARE TOOLS TO PERFORM THESE CALCULATIONS. THESE PROGRAM MODULES WILL THEN BE ARCHIVED WITH THE NASA GITHUB SITE FOR USE BY THE PLANETARY SCIENCE COMMUNITY. THIS PROJECT DOES NOT INCLUDE A HYPOTHESIS-BASED SCIENCE ELEMENT AND IS THEREFORE MOST APPROPRIATE TO THE PDART PROGRAM.
$129,659FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio TX