International Space Science Institute

About: International Space Science Institute is a nonprofit organization based out in Bern, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Solar wind & Comet. The organization has 120 authors who have published 858 publications receiving 25772 citations. The organization is also known as: ISSI.

Constraining models of activity on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with Rosetta trajectory, rotation, and water production measurements

Abstract: Aims. We use four observational data sets, mainly from the Rosetta mission, to constrain the activity pattern of the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P). Methods. We developed a numerical model that computes the production rate and non-gravitational acceleration of the nucleus of comet 67P as a function of time, taking into account its complex shape with a shape model reconstructed from OSIRIS imagery. We used this model to fit three observational data sets: the trajectory data from flight dynamics; the rotation state as reconstructed from OSIRIS imagery; and the water production measurements from ROSINA of 67P. The two key parameters of our model, adjusted to fit the three data sets all together, are the activity pattern and the momentum transfer efficiency (i.e., the so-called η parameter of the non-gravitational forces). Results. We find an activity pattern that can successfully reproduce the three data sets simultaneously. The fitted activity pattern exhibits two main features: a higher effective active fraction in two southern super-regions (~ 10 %) outside perihelion compared to the northern regions (< 4 %), and a drastic rise in effective active fraction of the southern regions (~25 − 35%) around perihelion. We interpret the time-varying southern effective active fraction by cyclic formation and removal of a dust mantle in these regions. Our analysis supports moderate values of the momentum transfer coefficient η in the range 0.6 − 0.7; values η ≤ 0.5 or η ≥ 0.8 significantly degrade the fit to the three data sets. Our conclusions reinforce the idea that seasonal effects linked to the orientation of the spin axis play a key role in the formation and evolution of dust mantles, and in turn, they largely control the temporal variations of the gas flux.

The Middle Atmospheric Ozone Response to the 11-Year Solar Cycle

Abstract: Because of its chemical and radiative properties, atmospheric ozone constitutes a key element of the Earth's climate system. Absorption of sunlight by ozone in the ultraviolet wavelength range is responsible for stratospheric heating, and determines the temperature structure of the middle atmosphere. Changes in middle atmospheric ozone concentrations result in an altered radiative input to the troposphere and to the Earth's surface, with implications on the energy balance and the chemical composition of the lower atmosphere. Although a wide range of ground- and satellite-based measurements of its integrated content and of its vertical distribution have been performed since several decades, a number of uncertainties still remain as to the response of middle atmospheric ozone to changes in solar irradiance over decadal time scales. This paper presents an overview of achieved findings, including a discussion of commonly applied data analysis methods and of their implication for the obtained results. We suggest that because it does not imply least-squares fitting of prescribed periodic or proxy data functions into the considered times series, time-domain analysis provides a more reliable method than multiple regression analysis for extracting decadal-scale signals from observational ozone datasets. Applied to decadal ground-based observations, time-domain analysis indicates an average middle atmospheric ozone increase of the order of 2% from solar minimum to solar maximum, which is in reasonable agreement with model results.

The 1999 Quadrantids and the lunar Na atmosphere

Abstract: Enhancements of the Na emission and temperature from the lunar atmosphere were reported during the Leonid meteor showers of 1995, 1997 and 1998. Here we report a search for similar enhancement during the 1999 Quadrantids, which have the highest mass flux of any of the major streams. No enhancements were detected. We suggest that different chemical–physical properties of the Leonid and Quadrantid streams may be responsible for the difference.

Triple F—a comet nucleus sample return mission

Abstract: The Triple F ( Fresh From the Fridge) mission, a Comet Nucleus Sample Return, has been proposed to ESA's Cosmic Vision program. A sample return from a comet enables us to reach the ultimate goal of cometary research. Since comets are the least processed bodies in the solar system, the proposal goes far beyond cometary science topics (like the explanation of cometary activity) and delivers invaluable information about the formation of the solar system and the interstellar molecular cloud from which it formed. The proposed mission would extract three sample cores of the upper 50 cm from three locations on a cometary nucleus and return them cooled to Earth for analysis in the laboratory. The simple mission concept with a touch-and-go sampling by a single spacecraft was proposed as an M-class mission in collaboration with the Russian space agency ROSCOSMOS.