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Project Progress

During the past year we have made progress on several projects. We have continued to investigate the origins of organic aerosols on Titan in the laboratory. Our goal has been to understand how the chemistry of the Earth’s early atmosphere might have led to similar or different types of particles than occur in Titan’s current atmosphere. We have quantified the aerosol production rate for varying amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and have also investigated the role of hydrogen in aerosol production rates and chemistry. Another project has been to understand whether methane might interact with the Martian dust or condensates in a way that would allow us to understand reports of time variable methane on Mars. We have found that methane is not trapped in either water or carbon dioxide snows nor in carbon dioxide clathrates. Hence we believe that measurements suggesting large variations in methane are likely to be incorrect. We have also moved forward in creating a new general circulation model for mars. This new model will allow us to better explore the ancient climate of Mars, and to also consider the chemistry of the Martian atmosphere.