The Earth's albedo is a fundamental climate parameter for understanding the radiation budget of the atmosphere. It has been traditionally measured not only from space platforms but also from the ...ground for 16 years from Big Bear Solar Observatory by observing the Moon. The photometric ratio of the dark (earthshine) to the bright (moonshine) sides of the Moon is used to determine nightly anomalies in the terrestrial albedo, with the aim of quantifying sustained monthly, annual, and/or decadal changes. We find two modest decadal scale cycles in the albedo, but with no significant net change over the 16 years of accumulated data. Within the evolution of the two cycles, we find periods of sustained annual increases, followed by comparable sustained decreases in albedo. The evolution of the earthshine albedo is in remarkable agreement with that from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System instruments, although each method measures different slices of the Earth's Bond albedo.
Key Points
We presente a new 16 year long global albedo record (a fundamental climate parameter) taken using the earthshine methodolgy
The Earth's reflectance presents decadal variability, but overall no long‐term trend is identified
The new data seem to agree well with the only other available albedo data set, the one from CERES instrumentation
ABSTRACT Currently, the analysis of transmission spectra is the most successful technique to probe the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres. However, the accuracy of these measurements is ...constrained by observational limitations and the diversity of possible atmospheric compositions. Here, we show the UV-VIS-IR transmission spectrum of Jupiter as if it were a transiting exoplanet, obtained by observing one of its satellites, Ganymede, while passing through Jupiter's shadow, i.e., during a solar eclipse from Ganymede. The spectrum shows strong extinction due to the presence of clouds (aerosols) and haze in the atmosphere and strong absorption features from CH4. More interestingly, the comparison with radiative transfer models reveals a spectral signature, which we attribute here to a Jupiter stratospheric layer of crystalline H2O ice. The atomic transitions of Na are also present. These results are relevant for the modeling and interpretation of giant transiting exoplanets. They also open a new technique to explore the atmospheric composition of the upper layers of Jupiter's atmosphere.
Observations of the Earth as a planet using the earthshine technique (i.e. looking at the light reflected from the dark side of the Moon) have been used for climate and astrobiology studies. They ...provide information about the planetary albedo, a fundamental parameter of the Earth's energy balance. Here we present, for the first time, observations of the earthshine taken at high spectral resolution. The high spectral resolution was chosen in order to investigate the possibility of detecting metallic layers in the Earth's atmosphere of geological or meteoritic origin. The Spettrografo Alta Risoluzione Galileo echelle spectrograph at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in La Palma was used to acquire the earthshine data. Observations were carried out on several nights in 2011 February, with the spectral resolution set at 29 000, covering a spectral range from the near-ultraviolet (360 nm) to near-infrared (1011.9 nm). While we find evidence for the detection of a Na layer in the earthshine, other atomic species are not detected, perhaps due to the low signal-to-noise ratio of the observations and the difficult telluric corrections. The Na layer is found to vary between observation dates, which we speculate is due to physical variations in mesospheric Na concentrations.
Here, we report the NIR transmission spectrum of Jupiter, with high signal-to-noise ratio, as if it were a transiting planet. Our technique was to observe Ganymede, when crossing Jupiter’s shadow. ...During the eclipse, the spectral features of the Jovian atmosphere are imprinted in the sunlight that, after passing through Jupiter’s planetary limb, is reflected from Ganymede towards the Earth. The ratio spectrum of Ganymede before and during the eclipse removes the spectral features of the Sun, the local telluric atmosphere on top of the telescopes, and the spectral albedo of Ganymede. Ganymede is a practically atmosphere-less body and do not suffer any significant weather variability.
Currently, the analysis of transmission spectra is the most successful technique to probe the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres. However, the accuracy of these measurements is constrained ...by observational limitations and the diversity of possible atmospheric compositions. Here, we show the UV-VIS-IR transmission spectrum of Jupiter as if it were a transiting exoplanet, obtained by observing one of its satellites, Ganymede, while passing through Jupiter's shadow, i.e., during a solar eclipse from Ganymede. The spectrum shows strong extinction due to the presence of clouds (aerosols) and haze in the atmosphere and strong absorption features from CH sub(4). More interestingly, the comparison with radiative transfer models reveals a spectral signature, which we attribute here to a Jupiter stratospheric layer of crystalline H sub(2)O ice. The atomic transitions of Na are also present. These results are relevant for the modeling and interpretation of giant transiting exoplanets. They also open a new technique to explore the atmospheric composition of the upper layers of Jupiter's atmosphere.
Here, we report the NIR transmission spectrum of Jupiter, with high signal-to-noise ratio, as if it were a transiting planet. Our technique was to observe Ganymede, when crossing Jupiter's shadow. ...During the eclipse, the spectral features of the Jovian atmosphere are imprinted in the sunlight that, after passing through Jupiter's planetary limb, is reflected from Ganymede towards the Earth. The ratio spectrum of Ganymede before and during the eclipse removes the spectral features of the Sun, the local telluric atmosphere on top of the telescopes, and the spectral albedo of Ganymede. Ganymede is a practically atmosphere-less body and do not suffer any significant weather variability.
Currently, the analysis of transmission spectra is the most successful technique to probe the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres. However, the accuracy of these measurements is constrained ...by observational limitations and the diversity of possible atmospheric compositions. Here, we show the UV–VIS–IR transmission spectrum of Jupiter as if it were a transiting exoplanet, obtained by observing one of its satellites, Ganymede, while passing through Jupiter’s shadow, i.e., during a solar eclipse from Ganymede. The spectrum shows strong extinction due to the presence of clouds (aerosols) and haze in the atmosphere and strong absorption features from CH{sub 4}. More interestingly, the comparison with radiative transfer models reveals a spectral signature, which we attribute here to a Jupiter stratospheric layer of crystalline H{sub 2}O ice. The atomic transitions of Na are also present. These results are relevant for the modeling and interpretation of giant transiting exoplanets. They also open a new technique to explore the atmospheric composition of the upper layers of Jupiter’s atmosphere.
Currently, the analysis of transmission spectra is the most successful technique to probe the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres. But the accuracy of these measurements is constrained by ...observational limitations and the diversity of possible atmospheric compositions. Here we show the UV-VIS-IR transmission spectrum of Jupiter, as if it were a transiting exoplanet, obtained by observing one of its satellites, Ganymede, while passing through Jupiter's shadow i.e., during a solar eclipse from Ganymede. The spectrum shows strong extinction due to the presence of clouds (aerosols) and haze in the atmosphere, and strong absorption features from CH4. More interestingly, the comparison with radiative transfer models reveals a spectral signature, which we attribute here to a Jupiter stratospheric layer of crystalline H2O ice. The atomic transitions of Na are also present. These results are relevant for the modeling and interpretation of giant transiting exoplanets. They also open a new technique to explore the atmospheric composition of the upper layers of Jupiter's atmosphere.
The Earth's albedo is a fundamental climate parameter for understanding the radiation budget of the atmosphere. It has been traditionally measured from space platforms, but also from the ground for ...sixteen years from Big Bear Solar Observatory by observing the Moon. The photometric ratio of the dark (earthshine) to the bright (moonshine) sides of the Moon is used to determine nightly anomalies in the terrestrial albedo, with the aim is of quantifying sustained monthly, annual and/or decadal changes. We find two modest decadal scale cycles in the albedo, but with no significant net change over the sixteen years of accumulated data. Within the evolution of the two cycles, we find periods of sustained annual increases, followed by comparable sustained decreases in albedo. The evolution of the earthshine albedo is in remarkable agreement with that from the CERES instruments, although each method measures different slices of the Earth's Bond albedo.
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