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BACKGROUND: THE MAIN CLOUD LAYERS OF JUPITER ARE COMPOSED OF COLORLESS COMPOUNDS. THUS JUPITER'S GREAT RED SPOT AND JUPITER'S GENERALLY RED COLOR REQUIRE A COLORING AGENT (CHROMOPHORE). MANY HAVE BEEN PROPOSED BUT ONLY THREE HAVE SUFFICIENTLY WELL KNOWN OPTICAL PROPERTIES TO ALLOW MODEL COMPARISONS WITH SPECTRAL OBSERVATIONS OF JUPITER: THOLIN PHOSPHORUS AND A NEW CHEMICAL COMPOUND MADE FROM PHOTODISSOCIATED AMMONIA MOLECULES REACTING WITH ACETYLENE (C2H2) WHICH WAS PRODUCED IN THE LABORATORY AND SUGGESTED AS A POSSIBLE COLORING AGENT FOR JUPITER'S GREAT RED SPOT (GRS) BY CARLSON ET AL. (2016 ICARUS 274 106-115). THE CARLSON ET AL. SUBSTANCE PROVIDED A VERY GOOD MATCH TO CASSINI VIMS SPECTRA OF THE GRS (BAINES ET AL. 2017 ICARUS SUBMITTED) AND OTHER JOVIAN FEATURES AS WELL (SROMOVSKY ET AL. 2017 ICARUS IN PRESS). HOWEVER OUR CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF JOVIAN PHOTOCHEMISTRY MAKES IT UNLIKELY THAT THE CARLSON ET AL. SUBSTANCE COULD BE PRODUCED IN THE QUANTITIES NEEDED TO MATCH OBSERVED SPECTRA EXCEPT PERHAPS IN LOCAL REGIONS. OBJECTIVES: WE PROPOSE AN ANALYSIS OF HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE (HST) MULTIBAND OBSERVATIONS OF JUPITER COVERING THE PERIOD FROM 1995 THROUGH 2016 WHICH PROVIDE SUBSTANTIAL TEMPORAL COVERAGE AND GREATLY IMPROVED SPATIAL RESOLUTION COMPARED TO THE VIMS OBSERVATIONS GAINED DURING CASSINI'S FLYBY OF JUPITER PROVIDING MORE SPECTRAL VARIABILITY AND A BETTER TEST OF CHROMOPHORE OPTIONS. WE PROPOSE TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CHROMOPHORE CANDIDATES WITH KNOWN OPTICAL PROPERTIES: (1) WHICH CHROMOPHORE PROVIDES THE BEST MATCHES TO SPECTRAL OBSERVATIONS OF A VARIETY OF SMALL- AND LARGE-SCALE DISCRETE FEATURES AND BANDS? (2) WHAT FRACTION OF JUPITER CAN BE MODELED WITH ONE OF THESE THREE CHROMOPHORES? (3) HOW DO CHROMOPHORE PARAMETERS OF PARTICLE SIZE AND OPTICAL DEPTH VARY SPATIALLY AND HOW DO THEY DIFFER AMONG MAJOR FEATURES? (4) ARE THERE EXTREME COLOR VARIATIONS THAT REQUIRE A CHROMOPHORE UNLIKE ANY OF THE THREE CANDIDATES? AND (5) WHAT CHROMOPHORE PARAMETER VARIATIONS WITH TIME PRODUCE THE COLOR VARIATIONS WITH TIME SUCH AS THE CHANGING COLOR OF THE GRS? ANSWERING THESE QUESTIONS WILL PROVIDE CONSTRAINTS ON MODELS FOR THE PRODUCTION AND EVOLUTION OF CHROMOPHORE HAZES ON JUPITER. METHODOLGY: BANDPASS FILTER MEASUREMENTS SAMPLING THE VISIBLE SPECTRUM OF JUPITER WILL BE USED TO CONSTRAIN MODELS OF THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE OF ITS CLOUDS INCLUDING THE OPTICAL DEPTH AND PARTICLE SIZE OF THE CHROMOPHORE LAYER AT THE TOP OF THE MAIN CLOUD LAYER. WE WILL USE THE LEVENBERG-MARQUARDT ALGORITHM TO ADJUST STRUCTURE PARAMETERS TO MINIMIZE THE CHI-SQUARED DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MODEL I/F VALUES FOR TYPICALLY 8-13 FILTERS AT MULTIPLE VIEW ANGLES. OUR ANALYSIS WILL MAKE USE OF RADIATION TRANSFER CODE AND FITTING ALGORITHMS DEVELOPED FOR ANALYSIS OF THE VIMS SPECTRA WHICH WE ALSO USED IN THE ANALYSIS THAT WILL SOON BE PUBLISHED IN ICARUS. APPROPRIATENESS TO THIS PROGRAM ELEMENT: THIS WORK IS RELEVANT TO THE SOLAR SYSTEMS WORKINGS PROGRAM BECAUSE IT ADDRESSES ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES OCCURING IN A PLANET IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM NAMELY JUPITER INCLUDING CHEMICAL PROCESSES DYNAMICS AND THE STRUCTURE AND VARIABILITY OF ITS CLOUD FEATURES. THIS ADDRESSES A LONG-STANDING PUZZLE NAMELY THE ORIGIN OF THE RED COLORS ON JUPITER. THERE IS NO EXISTING DATA ANALYSIS PROGRAM (DAP) THAT COULD SUPPORT THIS RESEARCH.

$364,793FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of Wisconsin System, Madison WI

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