The nature of Neptune’s increasing brightness: evidence for a seasonal response |
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Authors: | LA Sromovsky PM Fry KH Baines |
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Affiliation: | a Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin, 1225 W. Dayton Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA b Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA |
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Abstract: | Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations in August 2002 show that Neptune’s disk-averaged reflectivity increased significantly since 1996, by 3.2 ± 0.3% at 467 nm, 5.6 ± 0.6% at 673 nm, and 40 ± 4% in the 850-1000 nm band, which mainly results from dramatic brightness increases in restricted latitude bands. When 467-nm HST observations from 1994 to 2002 are added to the 472-nm ground-based results of Lockwood and Thompson (2002, Icarus 56, 37-51), the combined disk-averaged variation from 1972 to 2002 is consistent with a simple seasonal model having a hemispheric response delay relative to solar forcing of ∼30 years (∼73% of a full season). |
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Keywords: | Neptune Neptune Atmosphere Meteorology Atmospheres dynamics |
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