6. Planets With Atmosphere

Joshua Barnes -- Fall 1999

Topics:

• Escape velocity
• Keeping an atmosphere
• Internal structure
• Heat outflow
• Volcanic features
• Tectonic features
• Temperature balance

Web Resources:

• Planets with atmospheres: Mars [source], Earth [source], Venus [source]

  Portraits of the terrestrial planets with atmospheres. Compare the thin wisp of atmosphere on Mars with the swirling weather patterns of the Earth and the thick clouds of Venus.

• Topographic map animations
  • Venus (0.6 Mbyte mpeg) [source]
  • Earth (0.8 Mbyte mpeg) [source]
  • Mars (0.4 Mbyte mpeg) [source]

  Color indicates elevation in these animations. For Venus and Mars, black and purple represent the lowest regions, while red and white represent the highest areas. For the Earth, deep blue represents the lowest ocean floors, while red represents the highest mountains.

• Rotating Mars (0.75 Mbyte mpeg) [source]

  Space Telescope images of Mars showing rotation; see http://www.stsci.edu/.

• Mantle Convection

  Describes a simulation of convection in the mantle of Mars.

• Impact craters
  • Cratered terrain on Mercury [source]
  • Caloris basin on Mercury [source]
  • Golubkina crater on Venus [source]
  • Farside craters on Moon [source]
  • Manicouagan crater on Earth [source]
  • Arizona meteor crater on Earth [source]
  • Ancient craters on Mars [source]

• Volcanic features
  • Volcanic mountains & rift vally on Venus [source]
  • Volcanic rocks on Venus [source]
  • Mauna Loa on Earth [source]
  • Mount Rainier on Earth [source]
  • Olympus Mons on Mars [source]
  • Crater of Olympus Mons on Mars [source]

• Tectonic structures
  • Compression fault on Mercury [source]
  • Andes mountains on Earth [source]
  • Tibet plateau on Earth [source]
  • Valles Marineris on Mars [source]
  • Magnetic fields on Mars [source]

• Erosion
  • Grand Canyon on Earth [source]
  • Drainage network on Earth [source]
  • Outflow network on Mars [source]
  • Candor Chasm on Mars [source]
  • Sand dunes on Mars [source]

Homework 6: Planetary Surfaces, due 10/4.

Quiz 6: Planetary Atmospheres