AURORA on Earth ![]()
Photo Credit: Jan Curtis, UAF, GI
Comparative Aeronomy
in the Solar SystemAURORA on Ganymede ![]()
Photo Credit: NASA and Space Telescope Science Institute
Discussion group:
Archives with the latest message (HERE: Job, Outer planet missions, Conferences):
A) Papers related to comparative aeronomy (input welcome!):
B) Upcoming meetings relevant to comparative aeronomy (input welcome!):
B1. List of special sessions at upcoming meetings (past and future meetings):
IAMAS-IAPSO-IACS (MOCA) 2009 Joint Scientific Assembly, Montréal, Canada, July 19-29. 2009.
- J20 (Joint assembly): Atmospheres and Ices of Terrestrial Planets
- M18 (IAMAS): Comparative Atmospheres of the Giant Planets and their Satellites
IAU Symposium No.264, "Solar and Stellar Variability Impact on Earth and Planets", Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3-7 August 2009 - Abstract deadline: March 1, 2009 (more info here)
AOGS 2009, Singapore, August 11-15, 2009 - Abstract deadline: March 15, 2009
- PS14: Comparative Planetology: Solar and Extra-Solar Planets
- PS01: Ionized environments of magnetized planets compared
- PS07: Comprehensive Understanding of Small Solar System Bodies
- PS11: Outer planets and satellites with an atmosphere
- PS12: Laboratory Planetary Sciences
B.2 IHY:
A mailing list on Comparative Aeronomy offers us a dynamic way to exchange information and stimulate interactions.
We are planning to regularly send you information, such as on recent research outcomes or on upcoming meetings. Please send us your contribution!
Name of the mailing list: aeronomy-sol-sys-l
To subscribe:
Send an email to majordomo at bu.edu and put in the body of the message: subscribe aeronomy-sol-sys-l your_email_address.
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To contribute: Send a message to aeronomy-sol-sys-l at bu.edu. This message will be sent to Marina Galand, who will forward it to all subscribers (the intermediate person filter is set up to avoid distribution of scams). You can also send directly an email to mgaland at bu.edu.
Subscriber list: Send an email to majordomo at bu.edu and put in the body of the message: who aeronomy-sol-sys-l. The mailing list is based on the list manager software, called Majordomo.
Why a new WWW site?
Year 2000 marked a renewed interest in the comparative studies of solar system atmospheres. While many individual scientists do not separate their approaches to terrestrial and planetary science, the compartmentalization of specialties and government funding programmatics often appear to erect artificial barriers to separate otherwise coupled research objectives. To help reverse this counter-productive trend, two initiatives were launched this year and they seemed to have been rather successful:
To keep participants informed of upcoming activities, and to encourage other colleagues who could not attend these meetings to get involved, we have established this website and mail system.
- Yosemite 2000 Conference on "COMPARATIVE AERONOMY IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM", 8-11 February 2000, and
The solar system contains a rich ensemble of atmospheres associated with its nine planets and many moons. In the mesospheres, thermospheres, ionospheres, and exospheres of these bodies there exits an extraordinary range of parameters common to all. Yet, they drive processes chemically and dynamically in ways both similar to those found on Earth and uniquely site-dependent. The topics of interest include theory, modeling, observations, new ground-based and space-based techniques, and the types of syntheses that improve our understanding of the coupling, energetics and dynamics found in terrestrial, planetary and satellite environments.
Recent books, special issues, and review papers:
Special issue of Advances in Space Research on "Planetary Atmospheres, Ionospheres, and Plasma Interactions" (Volume 33, Issue 2, Pages 121-241, 2004), edited by E. Kallio and H. Shinagawa.
Atmospheres in the Solar System: Comparative Aeronomy, is an AGU monograph (Vol. 130), edited by Michael Mendillo, Andrew Nagy, and J.H. Waite in 2002. From important overviews of aeronomic phenomena to in-depth discussion of known interactions, models, and observational applications, this volume sets the stage for future aeronomic research in the solar system and beyond. Introduction (Mendillo et al., 2002)
Auroral Emissions of the Giant Planets by Anil Bhardwaj and G. Randall Gladstone is published in the volume 38 of Reviews of Geophysics, pp. 295 - 353, August 2000. The authors present a very comprehensive review of the observations and modeling of auroral processes of the giant planets. The last section is dedicated to comparisons between the giant planets and is illustrated with excellent summary tables.
On a related subject you may be interested to consult:
Auroras on Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune by Anil Bhardwaj and G. Randall Gladstone
published in the volume 26 of Advances in Space Reserach, pp. 1551-1558, 2000.IONOSPHERES, Physics, Plasma Physics and Chemistry, by Robert W. Schunk and Andrew Nagy, is a new text published in 2000 in the Atmospheric and Space Science Series of the Cambridge University Press (ISBN 0-521-63237-4). While primarily a work dealing with terrestrial ionospheric physics, the physics and approach are universal, and a chapter is devoted to Planetary Ionospheres.
The New Solar System, edited by J. Kelly Beatty, Carolyn Collins Petersen, and Andrew Chaikin, has a recent fourth edition published in 1999 by Sky Publishing Corporation (ISBN 0-933346-86-7). The atmosphere of numerous planets and satellites of the Solar System are presented and two chapters "Atmospheres of the Terrestrial Planets" by B.M. Jakosky and "Atmospheres of the Giant Planets" by A.P. Ingersoll propose relevant comparisons.
AOGS 2009, Singapore, August 11-15, 2009.
- PS14: Comparative Planetology: Solar and Extra-Solar Planets
- PS01: Ionized environments of magnetized planets compared
- PS07: Comprehensive Understanding of Small Solar System Bodies
- PS11: Outer planets and satellites with an atmosphere
- PS12: Laboratory Planetary Sciences
IAU Symposium No.264, "Solar and Stellar Variability Impact on Earth and Planets", Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3-7 August 2009.
Physical mechanisms of solar and stellar variability, solar diameter and irradiance measurements, helio- and steroseismic inferences, variability of spectral irradiance and energetic particles, solar cycles and variability on century timescale, effects on space weather and solar system planets, implications for Earth's climate, stellar magnetic activity and cycles, brightness changes in solar-type stars and stellar surface structures, effects of magnetic activity on planet formation and evolution, space- and ground-based observational projects.
IAMAS-IAPSO-IACS (MOCA) 2009 Joint Scientific Assembly, Montréal, Canada, July 19-29. 2009.
- J20 (Joint assembly): Atmospheres and Ices of Terrestrial Planets
- M18 (IAMAS): Comparative Atmospheres of the Giant Planets and their Satellites
AGU 2009 Joint Assembly, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 24-27, 2009
- P05: Planetary Atmospheres: Dynamics, Chemistry, Climate, and Couplings (Venus, Earth, Mars)
- P06: Comparative Studies of Planetary Magnetospheres
- U06: Connecting Atmospheric, Space, and Planetary Sciences
Comparative Planetology: Venus-Earth-Mars, ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, May 11-15, 2009.
EGU General Assembly 2009, Vienna, Austria, April 19-24, 2009
AGU/IHY Chapman Conference on Universal Heliophysical Processes, Savannah, Georgia, USA, November 10-14, 2008
- Topic 3: Plasma interactions
EPSC2008, Münster, Germany, September 21-26, 2008
- GA1: Terrestrial Planet Atmospheres
- SB7: Comparative science of planetary Moons
- MG1: Radio emission from the Sun, the planets, the heliosphere and the exoplanets
- MG2: Planetary Magnetospheres, Ionospheres, and Auroras
- MG3: Solar Wind Interaction with Exospheres of Weakly and Non-Magnetized Planets
IAU Symposium 257: Universal Heliophysical Processes, Ioannina, Greece, September 15-19, 2008
Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) Scientific Assembly 2008, Montréal, Canada, July 13-20, 2008
5th Annual Meeting of Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS), Busan, Korea, June 16-20, 2008
European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2008, Vienna, Austria, April 13-18, 2008
- PS4.0: Outer planets and satellites
- PS7: Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer in Planetary Atmospheres
AGU Chapman Conference on the Solar Wind Interaction with Mars, San Diego, CA, January 22-25, 2008
- One of the fundamental science questions which will be addressed during the meeting is:
- How does the Martian environment compare to other solar system bodies?
- More on the meeting here!
2nd European Planetary Science Congress 2007 (EPSC#2), Potsdam, Germany, 19-24 August 2007
- A01: Atmospheres of Gas and Ice Giants from Solar System to Exoplanets
- A02/03: Atmospheres of the Terrestrial Planets
- AO4: Atmospheres and Surfaces of Giant Planets and their Satellites
- M1: Radio Emission from the Sun, the Planets and the Heliosphere
- M2: Planetary Magnetospheres
- M4: Recent Progress on Escape of Volatiles to Space at Non-Magnetized Bodies
- M6: Magnetospheric Interactions of Icy Moons at Giant Planets
- M8: Planetary Ionospheres and Auroras
Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS), Bangkok, Thailand, July 30-August 4, 2007
- PS01-AS08 Microwave Investigations of Atmospheres in the Solar System
- PS04-ST07 Comparative Planetary Atmospheres, Ionospheres, and Magnetospheres
- PS05 Science and Exploration of Mars and Venus
- PS09 Outer Planets and Satellites with an Atmosphere
- ST05-PS16 Solar System Radio Emissions
International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), Perugia, Italy, July 2-13, 2007
- ASII014: Planetary Ionospheres/Thermospheres [IAGA]
- ASIII027: Other Magnetospheric Worlds [IAGA]
- ASIV033: Neutral-plasma interactions for planets, moons, asteroids, and comets [IAGA]
- JMS012: Planetary Atmospheres and Their Evolution [Joint IAMAS]
- JMS013:Aeronomy of Planetary Atmospheres: Comparative Planetology [Joint IAMAS]
Magnetospheres of the Outer Planets (MOP), San Antonio, Texas, USA, June 25-29, 2007 - More information
Spring American Geophysics Union (AGU), Acapulco, Mexico, May 22-25, 2007
- SA09: Interaction of the Solar Wind with Planetary Ionospheres
- SM05: Magnetospheres of the Inner Planets
European Geosciences Union (EGU), Vienna, Austria, April 15-20, 2007
- PS 2.3: Atmospheres of terrestrial planets
- PS 2.5: Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer in Planetary Atmospheres
- PS 3.0: Outer planets and satellites
- PS 5: Planetary Plasma Physics
- PS 5.5: Planetary Magnetism
The future of Space Explorations: Solutions to Earthly Problems?, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA, April 12-14, 2007 - Announcement
Fall American Geophysical Union (AGU) , San Francisco, CA, USA, December 11-15, 2006
- SA01: SPA-Aeronomy General Contributions, Including Planetary Aeronomy - (!! Special Announcement !!)
- Sessions SA22A(oral) and SA33A(poster): "Planetary Aeronomy"
EPSC #1, Berlin, Germany, September 18-22, 2006
- PA1 Atmospheric Structure, Dynamics and Composition
- PA2 Nitrogen in the stellar systems
- PA4 Comparative exospheres : From the upper atmospheres of Solar System gas giants to extra-solar Hot Jupiters (Oral session)
- MA1 Comparative Magnetospheres (Panel Discussion)
- MA2 Interaction of the Solar Wind with Surfaces and with Atmospheres (Oral session)
- MA3 Neutral-Plasma Interactions for Planets, Moons, Asteroids and Comets (Oral session)
- MA4 Space Weather and its Planetary Connection (workshop)
- MA6 Comparative Auroras (workshop)
- --> !!Presentations for MA6 available here!!
- MA7 Planetary Radio Emissions (Panel Discussion)
- MA8 Atmospheric Electricity and Lightning in the Solar System (Oral Session)
- MA9 Planetary Magnetism (Oral Session)
- ON7 The early atmosphere of Earth and Earth-like planets (Oral Session)
- ... among many other sessions of possible interest to comparative aeronomers!
AIAA/AAS, Astrodynamics Specialist Conference and Exhibit, Keystone, CO, USA, August 21-24, 2006 - More info
COSPAR, Beijing, China , July 16-23, 2006
- C3.2 Planetary Upper Atmospheres, Ionospheres and Magnetospheres
- C4.4 Progress on the Jupiter International Reference Atmosphere (JIRA) and Initial Consideration of Reference Atmospheres for Saturn and Titan (SIRA and TIRA)
- D1.2 Heliophysical Processes: Towards the International Heliophysical Year 2007
- D3.3 Comparative Magnetospheres
AOGS, Singapore, July 10-14, 2006 - More info
- PS03-ST12: " Comparative Planetary Atmospheres, Ionospheres, and Magnetospheres"
- PS06: “Outer planets and satellites with an atmosphere”
“Planetary Science: challenges and discoveries”, 18th Rencontres de Blois, May 28-June 2, 2006 - More info
Spring AGU, Baltimore, MA, USA, May 23-26, 2006 - More info
- U3: “Comparative Planetology – Atmospheres and Aeronomy” (FORUM!)
- --> !!Presentations for U3 available here!
EGU, Vienna, Austria, April 2-7, 2006 - More info
- PS 3.03: “Outer planets and satellites with an atmosphere”
- PS 5: “Planetary Plasma Physics”
- PS 11: “Space weather at other planets”
- PS 13: “Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer in Planetary Atmospheres”
ICS-8, Banff, Canada, March 27-31, 2006 - More info
Fall AGU meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA, December 5-9, 2005
- SA09: Comparative Planetology: Atmospheres and Aeronomy (FORUM!)
- SA05: International Heliophysical Year: Looking Through the Ionospheric Window to the Heliosphere
- SA08: Optical Characterization of Extrasolar Planets for the Search for Life
- SA11: Frontiers in Aeronomy
- SH11: Solar Wind/Environment Interaction at Nonmagnetized Bodies:
Mars, Venus, Titan, and the Moon
IAMAS meeting, Beijing, China, August 2-11, 2005
IAGA meeting, Toulouse, France , July 19-28, 2005
CEDAR/GEM meeting, Santa Fe, NM, USA, 26 June - 1 July 2005
AOGS meeting, Singapore, June 20-24, 2005
- PS04: Planets, Comets, and Satellites: Surface, Atmosphere, Ionosphere System and coupling with Magnetosphere --> SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
- PS05: Cassini/Huygens results and implications for outer planets systems
- PS06: Science and Exploration of Mars and Venus
- PS14: Recent Progress on Solar System Astronomy with Large Ground-Based Facilities
- PS16-ST19: ENA observation: a powerful tool to study the planetary and heliospheric environments
- PS17-ST20: Comparative Magnetospheres
- ST01: The International Heliophysical Year (IHY) Program: A Coordinated Effort to Understand the Entire Heliosphere
Spring AGU meeting, New Orleans, LA, USA, May 23-27, 2005
- SA02: The Response of Planetary Ionospheres to Solar Irradiance
- SA07: Comparative Studies of Planetary Thermospheres and Their Dynamics Using GCMs
- SA34A-05: Critical Evaluation of Chemical Reaction Rates and Collision Cross Sections of Importance in the Earth's Upper Atmosphere and the Atmospheres of Other Planets, Moons, and Comets
- P02: X-rays From The Solar System And Beyond
- P06: Aeronomy of Titan and Saturn: Recent Advances from Cassini/Huygens Observations
- SM02: Magnetospheric Physics at Saturn: Is It Earth-Like, Jupiter-Like, or Even Like It Was 25 Years Ago?
- SH09: Universal Physical Processes in the Solar System
EGU meeting, Vienne, Austria, April 24-29, 2005
- PS3.2: Outer Planets and Satellites with an Atmosphere
- PS5.1: Space Weather at other planets
- PS6: Solar System Radio Physics
- ST20: Coupling between the middle atmosphere and thermosphere/ionosphere on Earth and other planets or moons
IHY North American Community Science Planning Workshop, Boulder, CO, February 16-18, 2005, in preparation to International Heliophysical Year 2007
COSPAR 2004 meeting, Paris, France, July 18-25, 2004
- C3.1/B0.7/D3.3 Special Session on "Planetary Upper Atmospheres, Ionospheres and Magnetospheres".
AOGS 2004 meeting, Singapore, July 05-09, 2004
CEDAR 2004 meeting, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, June 27 - July 2, 2004
- -
- SA06 Special Session on "Mesosphere-Thermosphere-Ionosphere Coupling Processes and Issues for the Earth and Planets
- SA07 Special Session on "The Use of General Circulation Models to Study Global Dynamics, Energetics and Composition in Solar System Atmospheres" (formely SPA16)
- SA08 Special Session on "Surface-Boundary-Exospheres in the Solar System" (formely SPA18)
- SM07 Special Session on "Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling in the Solar System
- SM08 Special Session on "Comparative Magnetospheres and Solar Wind Interactions with Unmagnetized Bodies" (formely SPA19)
EGS/AGU 2003 meeting, Nice, France, April 06-11, 2003
- ST16 Special Session on "Comparative Upper Atmospheres and Magnetospheres of planets and moons".
Fall AGU 2001 meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA, December 10-14, 2001
- SA06 Special Session on "Future Directions in Aeronomy".
- AGU Presentations related to Comparative Aeronomy
DPS 2001 annual meeting, New Orleans, LA, USA, November 27-December 1, 2001
Fall AGU 2000 meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA, December 15-19, 2000
Of particular interest, see sessions:
· P01 Planetary Atmospheric Processes and Astrobiology (Joint With A, B, SA) · P05 The Galilean Satellite System From Galileo (Joint With SA)
CEDAR 2000 Workshop, Boulder, CO, USA, June 25-30, 2000.
Yosemite 2000 Conference on "Comparative Aeronomy in the Solar System", Yosemite, CA, USA, February 8-11, 2000 (followed by the publication of a monograph on "Atmospheres in the Solar System")
A few relevant WWW sites (list not exhaustive!):
Generalities Observations Modeling Themes
For further information or comments on this website or on the mailing list, please contact:
- Marina Galand at mgaland at bu.edu