Giant Planets of Our Solar System : Atmospheres, Composition, and Structure

by Irwin, Patrick G. J.

• ISBN13: 9783540006817
• ISBN10: 3540006818
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Drawing from all relevant areas of scientific research and knowledge, Giant Planets of Our Solar System provides a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge about the atmospheres, composition and structure of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the largest planetary bodies in the Solar System. Whilst acknowledging that scientific opinion in many areas of this fascinating subject is still divided, this book attempts to give a balanced comparison between the various theories and models. It condenses the many disparate fields in this area of research into a single volume, covering everything from the formation of the planets in the early Solar System through to the remote sensing of their atmospheric properties.
The book is an invaluable source of reference and contains detailed and extensive tables on composition, both solar and of the planets, together with a comprehensive bibliography and reference list.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
List of figures
List of tables
List of colour plates
Introduction	p. 1
Formation of the giant planets	p. 17
Evolution processes in outer planet atmospheres	p. 53
Vertical structure of temperature, composition, and clouds	p. 67
Dynamical processes	p. 133
Radiative transfer processes in outer planetary atmospheres	p. 197
Sources of remotely sensed data on the giant planets	p. 247
Future of giant planet observations	p. 313
Index	p. 353
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