Chapter 8: Planetary Atmospheres
Learning Objectives
By reading this chapter, attending lecture, and reviewing lecture content, you will be able to:
- Define primary atmosphere vs. secondary atmosphere
- List and explain the factors that control which atmospheric gases a planet can retain
- Identify the most abundant gas in each planet’s atmosphere, as well as Pluto’s and Titan’s
- Describe the evolution of Mercury’s, Venus’, Earth’s, and Mars’ atmosphere
- Explain why Mars cannot have liquid water on its surface today and list examples of morphological features on Mars that prove liquid water existed on its surface in the past
- Explain why the coloring of Jupiter’s and Saturn’s banding and Uranus’ and Saturn’s overall atmospheric are different
- List the factors that affect Earth’s climate; categorize and justify each factor as natural or human-induced
- Describe what Milankovitch cycles are
- Explain the greenhouse effect
- Define albedo and explain its role in climate change today
Read the excerpt from An Introduction to the Solar System, 3rd Edition which can be found as a PDF on Brightspace. Once logged into Brightspace, navigate to Content > Textbook & Readings and then look for the Other Readings submodule. The excerpt PDF is titled “An Intro to the Solar System: 5.1-5.6 Planetary Atmospheres.”
Text References
The excerpt in this section is from:
- Moore, Elaine A. “Chapter 5 Atmospheres of Terrestrial Planets.” An Introduction to the Solar System, edited by David A. Rothery, Neil McBride, and Iain Gilmour, 3rd ed., Cambridge University Press, 2018, pp. 163-200.