Spectral mapping and long-term seasonal evolution of Pluto

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2018.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-186).NASA's New Horizons mission has provided a wealth of new data about the Pluto system, including detailed surface geology and volatile distribution maps revealing striking latitudinal and longitudinal variations. We begin by studying the methane distribution and surface colors using data from New Horizons' Ralph/MVIC instrument. From this study we find that Pluto's equatorial region shows a broader diversity of terrains and more stark longitudinal contrasts than the more homogeneous north polar region. Pluto's south polar region is currently in constant shadow and thus was not observed by New Horizons. We consider how this diversity formed and survived in the context of Pluto's extreme Milancovid cycles and resultant "super seasons". Over timescales of roughly 3 million years Pluto's obliquity varies by 23 degrees (between 103 degrees and 126 degrees) while its longitude of perihelion regresses. This pair of cycles create "super season" epochs where one pole experiences a short intense summer and long winter in constant darkness, while the other experiences a short winter and much longer, but less intense summer. Through thermal modeling and volatile sublimation and deposition modeling we determined that Pluto's high obliquity creates conditions at its equator that favor albedo contrast and can support them on million year timescales more effectively than Pluto's polar regions can. Finally, we look ahead to a possible next step in small body spacecraft exploration, a study of Apophis during its 2029 close approach to Earth. Since the earlier portion of this thesis focused on the encounter, data collection, and scientific analysis portion of a spacecraft mission (New Horizons), we go full circle by exploring the early stage of theby Alissa M. Earle.Ph. D

Pluto's haze as a surface material

Pluto's atmospheric haze settles out rapidly compared with geological timescales. It needs to be accounted for as a surface material, distinct from Pluto's icy bedrock and from the volatile ices that migrate via sublimation and condensation on seasonal timescales. This paper explores how a steady supply of atmospheric haze might affect three distinct provinces on Pluto. We pose the question of why they each look so different from one another if the same haze material is settling out onto all of them. Cthulhu is a more ancient region with comparatively little present-day geological activity, where the haze appears to simply accumulate over time. Sputnik Planitia is a very active region where glacial convection, as well as sublimation and condensation rapidly refresh the surface, hiding recently deposited haze from view. Lowell Regio is a region of intermediate age featuring very distinct coloration from the rest of Pluto. Using a simple model haze particle as a colorant, we are not able to match the colors in both Lowell Regio and Cthulhu. To account for their distinct colors, we propose that after arrival at Pluto's surface, haze particles may be less inert than might be supposed from the low surface temperatures. They must either interact with local materials and environments to produce distinct products in different regions, or else the supply of haze must be non-uniform in time and/or location, such that different products are delivered to different places. ©2018 keywords: Pluto; Pluto, surface; Pluto, atmosphere; Geological processes; Ices; Photochemistr

The methane cycles on Pluto over seasonal and astronomical timescales

Pluto's surface is covered in numerous CH4 ice deposits, that vary in texture and brightness, as revealed by the New Horizons spacecraft as it flew by Pluto in July 2015. These observations suggest that CH 4 on Pluto has a complex history, involving reservoirs of different composition, thickness and stability controlled by volatile processes occurring on different timescales. In order to interpret these observations, we use a Pluto volatile transport model able to simulate the cycles of N2 and CH4 ices over millions of years. By assuming fixed solid mixing ratios, we explore how changes in surface albedos, emissivities and thermal inertias impact volatile transport. This work is therefore a direct and natural continuation of the work by Bertrand et al. (2018), which only explored the N 2 cycles. Results show that bright CH 4 deposits can create cold traps for N2 ice outside Sputnik Planitia, leading to a strong coupling between the N2 and CH4 cycles. Depending on the assumed albedo for CH 4 ice, the model predicts CH 4 ice accumulation (1) at the same equatorial latitudes where the Bladed Terrain Deposits are observed, supporting the idea that these CH4 -rich deposits are massive and perennial, or (2) at mid-latitudes (25°− 70°), forming a thick mantle which is consistent with New Horizons observations. In our simulations, both CH4 ice reservoirs are not in an equilibrium state and either one can dominate the other over long timescales, depending on the assumptions made for the CH 4 albedo. This suggests that long-term volatile transport exists between the observed reservoirs. The model also reproduces the formation of N2 deposits at mid-latitudes and in the equatorial depressions surrounding the Bladed Terrain Deposits, as observed by New Horizons. At the poles, only seasonal CH4 and N2 deposits are obtained in Pluto's current orbital configuration. Finally, we show that Pluto's atmosphere always contained, over the last astronomical cycles, enough gaseous CH4 to absorb most of the incoming Lyman-α flux. ©2019 keywords: Pluto; CH4 [methane]; paleoclimate modeling; GCM; glacier; volatile transpor

Bladed Terrain on Pluto: Possible origins and evolution

International audienceBladed Terrain on Pluto consists of deposits of massive CH4, which are observed to occur within latitudes 30° of the equator and are found almost exclusively at the highest elevations (> 2 km above the mean radius). Our analysis indicates that these deposits of CH4 preferentially precipitate at low latitudes where net annual solar energy input is lowest. CH4 and N2 will both precipitate at low elevations. However, since there is much more N2 in the atmosphere than CH4, the N2 ice will dominate at these low elevations. At high elevations the atmosphere is too warm for N2 to precipitate so only CH4 can do so. We conclude that following the time of massive CH4 emplacement; there have been sufficient excursions in Pluto's climate to partially erode these deposits via sublimation into the blades we see today. Blades composed of massive CH4 ice implies that the mechanical behavior of CH4 can support at least several hundred meters of relief at Pluto surface conditions. Bladed Terrain deposits may be widespread in the low latitudes of the poorly seen sub-Charon hemisphere, based on spectral observations. If these locations are indeed Bladed Terrain deposits, they may mark heretofore unrecognized regions of high elevation

Geological mapping of Sputnik Planitia on Pluto

International audienceThe geology and stratigraphy of the feature on Pluto informally named Sputnik Planitia is documented through geologic mapping at 1:2,000,000 scale. All units that have been mapped are presently being affected to some degree by the action of flowing N2 ice. The N2 ice plains of Sputnik Planitia display no impact craters, and are undergoing constant resurfacing via convection, glacial flow and sublimation. Condensation of atmospheric N2 onto the surface to form a bright mantle has occurred across broad swathes of Sputnik Planitia, and appears to be partly controlled by Pluto's obliquity cycles. The action of N2 ice has been instrumental in affecting uplands terrain surrounding Sputnik Planitia, and has played a key role in the disruption of Sputnik Planitia's western margin to form chains of blocky mountain ranges, as well in the extensive erosion by glacial flow of the uplands to the east of Sputnik Planitia

The Global Color of Pluto from New Horizons

The New Horizons flyby provided the first high-resolution color maps of Pluto. We present here, for the first time, an analysis of the color of the entire sunlit surface of Pluto and the first quantitative analysis of color and elevation on the encounter hemisphere. These maps show the color variation across the surface from the very red terrain in the equatorial region, to the more neutral colors of the volatile ices in Sputnik Planitia, the blue terrain of East Tombaugh Regio, and the yellow hue on Pluto's North Pole. There are two distinct color mixing lines in the color-color diagrams derived from images of Pluto. Both mixing lines have an apparent starting point in common: the relatively neutral-color volatile-ice covered terrain. One line extends to the dark red terrain exemplified by Cthulhu Regio and the other extends to the yellow hue in the northern latitudes. There is a latitudinal dependence of the predominant color mixing line with the most red terrain located near the equator, less red distributed at mid-latitudes and more neutral terrain at the North Pole. This is consistent with the seasonal cycle controlling the distribution of colors on Pluto. Additionally, the red color is consistent with tholins. The yellow terrain (in the false color images) located at the northern latitudes occurs at higher elevations