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At least 883 records · Page 49
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1994

A Revolutionary Lunar Space Transportation System Architecture Using Extraterrestrial Lox-augmented NTR Propulsion

The concept of a liquid oxygen (LOX)-augmented nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) engine is introduced, and its potential for revolutionizing lunar space transportation system (LTS) performance using extraterrestrial 'lunar-derived' liquid oxygen (LUNOX) is outlined. The LOX-augmented NTR (LANTR) represents the marriage of conventional liquid hydrogen (LH2)-cooled NTR and airbreathing engine technologies. The large divergent section of the NTR nozzle functions as an 'afterburner' into which oxygen is injected and supersonically combusted with nuclear preheated hydrogen emerging from the NTR's choked sonic throat: 'scramjet propulsion in reverse.' By varying the oxygen-to-fuel mixture ratio (MR), the LANTR concept can provide variable thrust and specific impulse (Isp) capability with a LH2-cooled NTR operating at relatively constant power output. For example, at a MR = 3, the thrust per engine can be increased by a factor of 2.75 while the Isp decreases by only 30 percent. With this thrust augmentation option, smaller, 'easier to develop' NTR's become more acceptable from a mission performance standpoint (e.g., earth escape gravity losses are reduced and perigee propulsion requirements are eliminated). Hydrogen mass and volume is also reduced resulting in smaller space vehicles. An evolutionary NTR-based lunar architecture requiring only Shuttle C and/or 'in-line' shuttle-derived launch vehicles (SDV's) would operate initially in an 'expandable mode' with NTR lunar transfer vehicles (LTV's) delivering 80 percent more payload on piloted missions than their LOX/LH2 chemical propulsion counterparts. With the establishment of LUNOX production facilities on the lunar surface and 'fuel/oxidizer' depot in low lunar orbit (LLO), monopropellant NTR's would be outfitted with an oxygen propellant module, feed system, and afterburner nozzle for 'bipropellant' operation. The LANTR cislunar LTV now transitions to a reusable mode with smaller vehicle and payload doubling benefits on each piloted round trip mission. As the initial lunar outposts grow to centralized bases and settlements with a substantial permanent human presence, a LANTR-powered shuttle capable of 36 to 24 hour 'one-way' trip times to the moon and back becomes possible with initial mass in low earth orbit (IMLEO) requirements of approximately 160 to 240 metric tons, respectively.

Borowski, Stanley K.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Recent evidence for evolution of the genetic code

The genetic code, formerly thought to be frozen, is now known to be in a state of evolution. This was first shown in 1979 by Barrell et al. (G. Barrell, A. T. Bankier, and J. Drouin, Nature [London] 282:189-194, 1979), who found that the universal codons AUA (isoleucine) and UGA (stop) coded for methionine and tryptophan, respectively, in human mitochondria. Subsequent studies have shown that UGA codes for tryptophan in Mycoplasma spp. and in all nonplant mitochondria that have been examined. Universal stop codons UAA and UAG code for glutamine in ciliated protozoa (except Euplotes octacarinatus) and in a green alga, Acetabularia. E. octacarinatus uses UAA for stop and UGA for cysteine. Candida species, which are yeasts, use CUG (leucine) for serine. Other departures from the universal code, all in nonplant mitochondria, are CUN (leucine) for threonine (in yeasts), AAA (lysine) for asparagine (in platyhelminths and echinoderms), UAA (stop) for tyrosine (in planaria), and AGR (arginine) for serine (in several animal orders) and for stop (in vertebrates). We propose that the changes are typically preceded by loss of a codon from all coding sequences in an organism or organelle, often as a result of directional mutation pressure, accompanied by loss of the tRNA that translates the codon. The codon reappears later by conversion of another codon and emergence of a tRNA that translates the reappeared codon with a different assignment. Changes in release factors also contribute to these revised assignments. We also discuss the use of UGA (stop) as a selenocysteine codon and the early history of the code.

Review↗
NASA NTRS2015

Beneficial Effects of Metabolic Supression for Adoptation and Survival in Space Environment

NASA in its plans to send humans to distant destination such as Mars faces the health and physiological performance problems caused by microgravity and space radiation. While most of the environmental conditions in spacecraft during flight can be made to mimic terrestrial conditions, microgravity cannot yet be managed. This space environmental factor has a major impact on the body’s biological system forcing alterations, in order to adapt to this new environment. Most space flight and ground-based studies suggest that prolonged exposure to microgravity leads to significant skeletal muscle atrophy, bone loss, and results in suppression of total metabolism. Due to microgravity, unloaded crewmembers lose up to 1.5% of their skeletal mass and 1.8% of bone strength each month during ISS missions. Remarkably many animals, including human-size bears, which are largely inactive during the 6 to 8 months of hibernation, show no loss in bone mass and much less muscle atrophy than would be anticipated over such a prolonged period of physical inactivity. This suggests that while in a suppressed metabolic state animals have unique natural mechanisms to prevent muscle disuse and bone atrophy. The molecular mechanisms underlying these important adaptations are not yet known. Radiation exposure is the second health hazard encountered during spaceflight that can cause radiation sickness, cancer or death. This study provides new evidence that metabolic activity levels play a critical role in radioprotection. Metabolic suppression, as an adaptive response of cells to minimize damage caused by radiation, enables cells to reduce cellular dysfunction and damage, and prolong their survival despite persistent oxidative stress. Thus mechanistic understanding of metabolism offers a means for sustaining astronauts in long-duration missions. The ultimate goals of this study are to demonstrate that induced metabolic suppression in animals and humans will profoundly reduce their sensitivity to the damaging effects of radiation and microgravity as well as other kinds of stresses caused by spaceflight. The beneficial effects of suppressed metabolism induced by different factors such as temperature, nutrition, and medications, will not only mitigate the most detrimental hazards of spaceflight but also radically reduce mission life support requirements and spaceflight logistics.

Galicia, E.↗
NASA NTRS2022

The Influence of Land Use and Land Cover Change on Landslide Susceptibility in the Lower Mekong River Basin

The Lower Mekong River Basin in Southeast Asia experiences frequent rainfall-triggered landslides especially during the monsoon season. In this study, the influence of land use and land cover change and other causative factors on landslide susceptibility is evaluated in the Lower Mekong Basin. Frequency ratio analysis is performed to quantify the relationship between LULC change and susceptibility. Detailed landslide inventory maps are used for analysis with yearly LULC maps. The LULC change is used as a contributing variable in a logistic regression-based susceptibility model with other variables including distance to roads, slope, aspect, forest loss, and soil properties. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve and Area Under the Curve are estimated for the model trained by each landslide inventory. The models show good performance, with AUC values ranging from 0.697 to 0.958 and an average AUC equal to 0.820. Both the Frequency Ratio analysis and the Logistic Regression models indicate LULC change from agricultural land to forest has a positive correlation with landslide occurrence. The most significant factors in the models are found to be distance to roads, slope, and aspect. A better understanding of the effects of LULC on landslide susceptibility can be useful for local land and disaster management and for the implementation of LULC as a factor in future susceptibility models. Using datasets that are unique to the Lower Mekong region, this study provides additional insights into the relationship between causative factors and landslide activity to better inform regional and global landslide susceptibility modeling.

River Basin↗
NASA NTRS1995

Long-wavelength Radar Studies of the Lunar Maria

Radar measurements at 70 cm and 7.5 m wavelengths provide insight into the structure and chemical properties of the upper 5-100 m of the lunar regolith and crust. Past work has identified a number of anomalous regions and changes in echo strength, some attributed to differences in titanium content. There has been little opportunity, however, to compare calibrated long-wavelength backscatter among different units or to theoretical model results. We combine recent high-resolution (3-5 km) 70-cm radar data for the nearside with earlier calibrated full-disk observations to provide a reasonable estimate of the true lunar backscatter coefficient. These data are tested against models for quasi-specular scattering from the surface, echoes from a buried substrate, and Mie scattering from surface and buried rocks. We find that 70 cm echoes likely arise from Mie scattering by distributed rocks within the soil, consistent with earlier hypotheses. Returns from a buried substrate would provide a plausible fit to the observations only if the regolith depth were ~3 m or less and varied little across the maria. Depolarized echoes are due to some combination of single and multiple scattering events, but it appears that single scattering alone could account for the observed echo power, based on comparisons with terrestrial rocky surfaces. Backscatter strength from the regolith is most strongly affected by the loss tangent, whose variation with mineral content is still poorly defined. We compared the backscatter values for the mare deposits to the oxide contents inferred from spectral ratio methods, and found that in general the unit boundaries evident in radar images closely follow those seen in color difference images. The 70-cm data are not well correlated with TiO2 values found using the Charette relationship nor with Fe abundances derived from Clementine observations. The lack of a relationship between radar echo and Fe content is reasonable given the distribution of iron among various mineral phases, but ilmenite content (FeTiO3) has typically been cited as the dominant cause of changes in loss tangent (and thus the radar absorption). The lack of correlation between the radar data and TiO2 estimates may arise from uncertainties in the Charette technique, subtle differences in the upper surface and bulk properties of the regolith, mineralogic effects on the radar not linked to titanium content, or to some combination of these factors. Dark crater haloes in the mare and highlands, and low radar returns from apparent cryptomare regions, are used to illustrate the role radar data can play in identifying changes in regolith composition; low-return haloes around craters such as Petavius may indicate 5-25% contamination of the highlands soil by excavated mare material or a layer of rock-poor ejecta at least several meters deep. The 7.5-m data were shown to correlate to a reasonable degree with estimates of Fe abundance, suggesting that this component of the mare basalts is primarily responsible for attenuation losses at very long wavelengths. The different sensitivities of the two radar wavelengths and multispectral data offers the potential for future deep mapping of the mare lava flows and regolith.

Lunar MariaRadarLunar Studies↗
NASA NTRS1995

Long-wavelength Radar Studies of the Lunar Maria

Radar measurements at 70 cm and 7.5 m wavelengths provide insight into the structure and chemical properties of the upper 5-100 m of the lunar regolith and crust. Past work has identified a number of anomalous regions and changes in echo strength, some attributed to differences in titanium content. There has been little opportunity, however, to compare calibrated long-wavelength backscatter among different units or to theoretical model results. We combine recent high-resolution (3-5 km) 70-cm radar data for the nearside with earlier calibrated full-disk observations to provide a reasonable estimate of the true lunar backscatter coefficient. These data are tested against models for quasi-specular scattering from the surface, echoes from a buried substrate, and Mie scattering from surface and buried rocks. We find that 70 cm echoes likely arise from Mie scattering by distributed rocks within the soil, consistent with earlier hypotheses. Returns from a buried substrate would provide a plausible fit to the observations only if the regolith depth were approx.3 m or less and varied little across the maria. Depolarized echoes are due to some combination of single and multiple scattering events, but it appears that single scattering alone could account for the observed echo power, based on comparisons with terrestrial rocky surfaces. Backscatter strength from the regolith is most strongly affected by the loss tangent, whose variation with mineral content is still poorly defined. We compared the backscatter values for the mare deposits to the oxide contents inferred from spectral ratio methods, and found that in general the unit boundaries evident in radar images closely follow those seen in color difference images. The 70-cm data are not well correlated with TiO2 values found using the Charette relationship nor with Fe abundances derived from Clementine observations. The lack of a relationship between radar echo and Fe content is reasonable given the distribution of iron among various mineral phases, but ilmenite content (FeTiO3) has typically been cited as the dominant cause of changes in loss tangent (and thus the radar absorption). The lack of correlation between the radar data and TiO2 estimates may arise from uncertainties in the Charette technique, subtle differences in the upper surface and bulk properties of the regolith, mineralogic effects on the radar not linked to titanium content, or to some combination of these factors. Dark crater haloes in the mare and highlands, and low radar returns from apparent cryptomare regions, are used to illustrate the role radar data can play in identifying changes in regolith composition; low-return haloes around craters such as Petavius may indicate 5-25% contamination of the highlands soil by excavated mare material or a layer of rock-poor ejecta at least several meters deep. The 7.5-m data were shown to correlate to a reasonable degree with estimates of Fe abundance, suggesting that this component of the mare basalts is primarily responsible for attenuation losses at very long wavelengths. The different sensitivities of the two radar wavelengths and multispectral data offers the potential for future deep mapping of the mare lava flows and regolith.

Lunar Studies↗
NASA NTRS2011

Fatigue Management in Spaceflight Operations

Sleep loss and fatigue remain an issue for crewmembers working on the International Space Station, and the ground crews who support them. Schedule shifts on the ISS are required for conducting mission operations. These shifts lead to tasks being performed during the biological night, and sleep scheduled during the biological day, for flight crews and the ground teams who support them. Other stressors have been recognized as hindering sleep in space; these include workload, thinking about upcoming tasks, environmental factors, and inadequate day/night cues. It is unknown if and how other factors such as microgravity, carbon dioxide levels, or increased radiation, may also play a part. Efforts are underway to standardize and provide care for crewmembers, ground controllers and other support personnel. Through collaborations between research and operations, evidenced-based clinical practice guidelines are being developed to equip flight surgeons with the tools and processes needed for treating circadian desynchrony (and subsequent sleep loss) caused by jet lag and shift work. The proper implementation of countermeasures such as schedules, lighting protocols, and cognitive behavioral education can hasten phase shifting, enhance sleep and optimize performance. This panel will focus on Fatigue Management in Spaceflight Operations. Speakers will present on research-based recommendations and technologies aimed at mitigating sleep loss, circadian desynchronization and fatigue on-orbit. Gaps in current mitigations and future recommendations will also be discussed.

Whitmire, Alexandra↗
NASA NTRS1975

Storage Stability and Improvement of Intermediate Moisture Foods, Phase 3

Methods were determined for the improvement of shelf-life stability of intermediate moisture foods (IMF). Microbial challenge studies showed that protection against molds and Staphylococcus aureus could be achieved by a combination of antimicrobial agents, humectants and food acids. Potassium sorbate and propylene glycol gave the best results. It was also confirmed that the maximum in heat resistance shown by vegetative pathogens at intermediate water activities also occurred in a solid food. Glycols and sorbitol both achieve browning inhibition because of their action as a medium for reaction and effect on viscosity of the adsorbed phase. Chemical availability results showed rapid lysine loss before visual discoloration occurred. This is being confirmed with a biological test using Tetrahymena pyriformis W. Accelerated temperature tests show that effectiveness of food antioxidants against rancidity development can be predicted; however, the protection factor changes with temperature. BHA was found to be the best antioxidant for iron catalyzed oxidation.

Labuza, T. P.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Metallization for large-area solar cells

In large area, low cost solar cells of any type, the contact and grid structure metallization is an important factor which has an effect on the efficiency of the solar cell and its reliability. The present investigation is concerned with aspects of solar cell efficiency. An optimized metallization design leads to minimum total power loss, which is related to a simultaneous minimization of ohmic voltage drops and of shading of the front surface of the cell by the overlaid metal. The requirements regarding the design for a low-loss metallization pattern for the front surface of large area solar cells are represented by a set of design rules listed in a table. The total shading and voltage drop on such cells can be held to about 5%. However, not every metallization process is suited for meeting the requirements of the low-cost design. The low losses can be achieved only by use of several bus lines containing a bulk conductor, such as a wire.

Wolf, M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Mass discrimination during prolonged weightlessness

Thresholds for mass discrimination under zero gravity in flight were found to be higher by a factor of about 1.8 than those for weight discrimination before flight. This suggests that humans are not as sensitive to inertial mass as they are to weight, and that adaptation can only partially compensate for loss of gravity. Weight discrimination thresholds were raised for 2 or 3 days after flight, suggesting an aftereffect of adaptation to weightlessness.

Ross, H.↗
NASA NTRS1996

STOVL Jet Efflux Characteristics and their Influence on Propulsion-Induced Effects

Jet efflux characteristics are a determining factor in STOVL aircraft aero/propulsion induced effects. Subcritical jets may have core lengths which range up to 6 diameters. The shorter core length jets tend to entrain ambient air more rapidly, inducing larger hover lift losses, and decay more rapidly, reducing adverse ground erosion. In transition flight, shorter core length jets show a larger decrease in the lift loss and a slight decrease in nose-up pitching moment. Supercritical pressure ratio jets tend to have longer, higher pressure core lengths with a greater hazard for ground erosion. The decay in the fully developed region is similar for both subcritical and supercritical pressure ratio jets. For subsonic jets the decay is inversely proportional to the distance from the jet exit. In ground effect the supercritical jet induces an oscillating pressure distribution on the ground with reflected shocks and expansions which can increase ground erosion and, at low ground heights, cause non-monotonic lift loss variations.

Arledge, Tom↗
NASA NTRS2015

Prospective Observational Study of Ocular Health in ISS Crews - The Ocular Health Study

The Visual Impairment Intracranial Pressure (VIIP) syndrome is currently NASA's number one human space flight risk. The syndrome, which is related to microgravity exposure, manifests with changes in visual acuity (hyperopic shifts, scotomas), changes in eye structure (optic disc edema, choroidal folds, cotton wool spots, globe flattening, and dilated optic nerve sheaths), and in some cases with documented increased intracranial pressure (ICP) postflight. While the eye appears to be the main affected end organ of this syndrome, the ocular effects are thought to be related to underlying changes in the vascular system and the central nervous system. The leading hypotheses for the development of VIIP involve microgravity-induced head-ward fluid shifts along with a loss of gravity-assisted drainage of venous blood from the brain, leading to cephalic congestion, decreased CSF resorption and increased ICP. Since 70% of ISS crewmembers have manifested clinical signs or symptoms of the VIIP syndrome, it is assumed that the majority have some degree of ICP elevation in-flight compared to the ground. Prolonged elevations of ICP can cause long-term reduced visual acuity and loss of peripheral visual fields, and have been reported to cause mild cognitive impairment in the analog terrestrial population of Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH). These potentially irreversible health consequences underscore the importance of identifying the factors that lead to this syndrome and mitigating them.

Otto, C.↗
NASA NTRS2015

The Visual Impairment Intracranial Pressure Syndrome in Long Duration NASA Astronauts: An Integrated Approach

The Visual Impairment Intracranial Pressure (VIIP) syndrome is currently NASA's number one human space flight risk. The syndrome, which is related to microgravity exposure, manifests with changes in visual acuity (hyperopic shifts, scotomas), changes in eye structure (optic disc edema, choroidal folds, cotton wool spots, globe flattening, and distended optic nerve sheaths). In some cases, elevated cerebrospinal fluid pressure has been documented postflight reflecting increased intracranial pressure (ICP). While the eye appears to be the main affected end organ of this syndrome, the ocular affects are thought to be related to the effect of cephalad fluid shift on the vascular system and the central nervous system. The leading hypotheses for the development of VIIP involve microgravity induced head-ward fluid shifts along with a loss of gravity-assisted drainage of venous blood from the brain, both leading to cephalic congestion and increased ICP. Although not all crewmembers have manifested clinical signs or symptoms of the VIIP syndrome, it is assumed that all astronauts exposed to microgravity have some degree of ICP elevation in-flight. Prolonged elevations of ICP can cause long-term reduced visual acuity and loss of peripheral visual fields, and has been reported to cause mild cognitive impairment in the analog terrestrial population of Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH). These potentially irreversible health consequences underscore the importance of identifying the factors that lead to this syndrome and mitigating them.

Otto, C. A.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Change of Exposure Time Mid-test in High Temperature DIC Measurement

Performing digital image correlation (DIC) at extreme temperatures has been greatly challenging due to the radiation which saturates the camera sensor. At such high temperatures, the light intensity emitted from an object is occasionally so powerful that the acquired images are overwhelmingly saturated. This induces data loss, potentially ruining the test, thus requiring the user to restart the test. For this reason, selection of an appropriate camera sensitivity plays a crucial role prior to beginning the test. Exposure time is a factor contributing to camera sensitivity and it is the easiest setting to manipulate during the test since it introduces minimal errors when comparing to other factors, especially in quasi-static tests. This paper examines the influence of changing exposure time mid-test on DIC measurement uncertainty. The investigation was conducted by rigid body motion experiments at room temperature and 1600 ◦C, respectively. Thereby, some recommendations are given to help DIC users assess their images at room temperature to extrapolate the exposure at extreme temperatures along with accompanying solutions to salvage data at high temperature.

Digital Image Correlation↗
NASA NTRS2014

Towards a General Equation for the Survival of Microbes Transferred between Solar System Bodies

It should be possible to construct a general equation describing the survival of microbes transferred between Solar System bodies. Such an equation will be useful for constraining the likelihood of transfer of viable organisms between bodies throughout the lifetime of the Solar System, and for refining Planetary Protection constraints placed on future missions. We will discuss the construction of such an equation, present a plan for definition of pertinent factors, and will describe what research will be necessary to quantify those factors. Description: We will examine the case of microbes transferred between Solar System bodies as residents in meteorite material ejected from one body (the "intial body") and deposited on another (the "target body"). Any microbes transferred in this fashion will experience four distinct phases between their initial state on the initial body, up to the point where they colonize the target body. Each of these phases features phenomena capable of reducing or exterminating the initial microbial population. They are: 1) Ejection: Material is ejected from the initial body, imparting shock followed by rapid desiccation and cooling. 2) Transport: Material travels through interplanetary space to the target body, exposing a hypothetical microbial population to extended desiccation, irradiation, and temperature extremes. 3) Infall: Material is deposited on the target body, diminishing the microbial population through shock, mass loss, and heating. 4) Adaptation: Any microbes which survive the previous three phases must then adapt to new chemophysical conditions of the target body. Differences in habitability between the initial and target bodies dominate this phase. A suitable general-form equation can be assembled from the above factors by defining the initial number of microbes in an ejected mass and applying multiplicitive factors based on the physical phenomena inherent to each phase. It should be possible to present the resulting equation in terms of initial ejection mass, ejection shock magnitude, transfer time, initial microbial load and/or other terms and generate graphs defining the number of surviving microbes. The general form of the equation is: x(sub f) = x(sub i) f(sub1) f(sub 2) f(sub 3) f(sub 4) Where x(sub f) is the final number of microbes to survive transfer, x(sub i) is the initial population prior to ejection, and f(sub 1-4) are mortality factors for the four phases described above. Among other considerations, f(sub 1) will vary with respect to impact shock magnitude and f(sub 2) will be time-dependent. Considerable research has been performed to date to quantify the survival rates of various microbes in response to portions of these four phases, both as vegetative cells and/or spores. Results indicate that many species tend to respond differently to the pertinent mortality factors, especially in the case of extremophiles. Therefore, a complete equation will include species-specific responses to the mortality factors.

Fries, M.↗
NASA NTRS1999

On the Lower Limit of Chondrule Cooling Rates: The Significance of Iron Loss in Dynamic Crystallization Experiments

Lofgren (1989) and the further analysis of Lofgren's 1989 experiments by Jones and Lofgren (1993) established that cooling rates as slow as 5 C/hour produced analog textures and major and minor element zoning profiles in minerals, implying that a lower limit on chondrule cooling rate may be approximately 5 C/hour These results, however, are in conflict with those reported by Radomsky and Hewins (1990). In their paper, Radomsky and Hewins (1990) established a lower limit on chondrule cooling rates of I 100 C/hour a factor of 20 higher than that suggested by Jones and Lofgren (1993). The higher cooling rates suggested by Radomsky and Hewins (1990) have gained considerable favor within the meteoritic community largely because it appears more consistent with the preservation of Na in chondrules, which tends to volatilize at the slower cooling rates. In their study, however, Radomsky and Hewins (1990) did not use Pt hang wires that were coated or saturated with Fe. The lack of such techniques likely facilitated Fe loss from their experimental chondrules to the hang wire during formation (Jones and Lofgren, 1993). The effect of Fe loss could produce an inaccurate determination of cooling rates since these rates are largely determined by the Mg-Fe distributions in individual crystals.

Paque, Julie M.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Cometary brightness variation and nucleus structure

The Bobrovnikoff and Beyer photometric data for more than 100 comets analyzed for intrinsic brightness variations, before and after perihelion, according to some inverse power law of solar distance. The Oort and Schmidt classification of comet age is extended and applied with Marsden's new determinations of inverse semimajor axis. A physical interpretation of the data involves the quick loss of a frosting of supervolatile materials from new comets, and for all comets, the development of an insulating crust after perihelion. The orientation of the axes of rotating comets is shown to be an important factor in cometary brightness variations. A speculation is made concerning the axis of rotation of Comet Kohoutek.

Whipple, F. L.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Eddy diffusivities within Jupiter

The Flasar and Gierasch (1977) model for small-scale thermally driven turbulent convection in rapidly rotating systems is used to estimate eddy diffusivities within Jupiter's atmosphere and interior. It is assumed that heat transport is governed by a mixing-length law, that Jupiter's interior heat flow derives from thermal cooling, and that the entropy loss per nucleon is uniform throughout. A characteristic scalar diffusivity is obtained as a function of pressure level and latitude. The results show that the latitude variation in the diffusivity might be as large as a factor of 100 at 4600 bars. The consequences of such variations are considered.

Flasar, F. M.↗