Martian Upper Atmospheric Thermal Structure, Composition, and Water and Their Significance for Atmospheric Escape and Evolution
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Martian Upper Atmospheric Thermal Structure, Composition, and Water and their Significance for Atmospheric Escape and Evolution Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Stone, Shane Wesley Citation Stone, Shane Wesley. (2021). Martian Upper Atmospheric Thermal Structure, Composition, and Water and their Significance for Atmospheric Escape and Evolution (Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA). Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 11/10/2021 10:17:40 Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/660769 MARTIAN UPPER ATMOSPHERIC THERMAL STRUCTURE, COMPOSITION, AND WATER AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE FOR ATMOSPHERIC ESCAPE AND EVOLUTION by Shane Wesley Stone Copyright © Shane Wesley Stone 2021 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF PLANETARY SCIENCES in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2021 2 4 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I must principally acknowledge my advisor, Professor Roger Yelle: thank you for catalyzing my transformation from a polymer chemist into a planetary one. Thank you for pushing me to perform well beyond what I believed were my limits. Thank you for your guidance through the research projects that made it into this dissertation, those that did not, and through those corridors of academic science other than research. Thank you for, in one of our first few conversations, convincing me that chemists have an important role to play in planetary science when I had been disabused of such a notion. I have markedly improved as a scientist as a direct result of your advising. I will forever be grateful. I began to contemplate the transition from polymer chemistry to planetary sci- ence as a third-year graduate student in organic chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Bench chemists have an abundance of time to con- template wild ideas while their reaction stirs in a flask or while cleaning said flask for the hundredth time. I was, and certainly still am, fascinated by planetary atmo- spheres (and still polymers too). I had been fascinated by atmospheres for most of my life, but had not realized in a practical sense that I could devote my academic career to the topic or, perhaps, I lacked the confidence in my abilities to pursue such a dream. In either case, I began to search for a Professor in the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences at UCLA who would either be willing to accept into their research group a chemist with no background at all in the study of planetary science or, much more likely, at least provide useful advice while escorting me back out of their office. So, I walked from Young Hall (which houses a portion of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry), through a short hallway that bridges the two buildings, to Geology, where one would find those who study rocks, of course, but perhaps too those who study the tiny envelopes of gas that cling to big rocks in space. One Professor across that bridge had little to say on my transition from chemistry to planetary science, he knew of no openings for such a student. One told me that there was little left to accomplish in the study of planetary atmo- spheres for a person with my set of skills. I was crushed. But one suggested I get in touch with a Professor Yelle at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL). So to UCLA Professor Jonathan Mitchell, who set me out in the right direction down this path, I must say thank you. Your excitement for planetary atmospheres and your kindness for this student who wandered into your office were motivational and heartening. I will always remember that conversation. I will always remember also the next conversation we had. By then I was a first-year graduate student at LPL attending my first scientific conference. I proclaimed then, and do so again here, \I made it!" I wish to thank all of the Professors who taught the many courses I took in my first years at LPL. Each of you has also played a critical role in my transition to 6 planetary science and my development as a scientist: Professors Isamu Matsuyama, Joe Giacalone, Adam Showman, Tom Zega, Caitlin Griffith, Lucy Ziurys, Shane Byrne, and Dante Lauretta. Shane, I suppose you can have your identity back now. Perhaps you enjoyed receiving my emails as much as I enjoyed receiving yours. Thank you also to Professor Travis Barman for agreeing to be my academic advisor and for the insightful conversations and advice throughout the years. We should have had more of those conversations. Thank you, Professor Tommi Koskinen, for your always intelligent and insightful advice regarding various research projects. Thank you to those Professors that served on the committees for my oral examination and final dissertation defense: Tim Swindle, Isamu Matsuyama, Caitlin Griffith, and Tom Zega. Our meetings were always encouraging and I am honored to have your signatures on this dissertation. Thank you to all of the LPL staff, especially Mary Guerrieri, Bert Orosco, Amy Brenton, Vicki Robles de Serino, Maria Schuchardt, Eneida Guerra de Lima, John Pursch, and Pam Streett. I knew on the first day of my visit as a prospective student that the administrative staff at LPL were spectacular. All of you shepherd us graduate students through our degrees in different ways and we could not do it without you. Mary and Amy, you both ensure we never miss a deadline or forget to jump through some bureaucratic hoop. Bert, I will always hear your laugh and see your smile when I think of you. Thank you for all of your help. Maria, thank you for your support during countless outreach events. Vicki, thank you for helping me with all of the paperwork. Eneida and John, thank you for the tech support. Thank you to all of the graduate students and postdocs at LPL, most of all for your comradery. Joshua Lothringer, Daniel Lo, Hamish Hay, and many others, thank you for the hours and hours we spent together poring over coursework. Molly Simon and Sarah Peacock, our friendship has been especially valuable, so thank you for the endless laughs and helpful advice. This experience would not have been as fun without you. Thank you, Molly, for our fast friendship, your support in my first years at LPL, and for being a wonderful officemate. Sarah, thank you for lunches and long conversations, often about the Senate. Ali Bramson, thank you for housing me during my prospective visit, for being our Graduate Representative to the Faculty, and for your guidance as I stepped into that position behind you. Thank you to Sarah Morrison for encouraging me to participate in outreach at LPL, coordinating those outreach events, and ensuring I had an easy transition into the role of Graduate Outreach Coordinator. These outreach experiences dramatically improved my abilities as a public speaker and science communicator. Thank you, Justin Erwin, for your friendship which has been particularly enjoyable and for your academic support which has been particularly useful. You were always willing to stop what you were doing to explain in detail some concept which eluded me. Thank you, Jon Bapst, for all of the long conversations about planetary science and hockey out by the Mars garden or after Space Drafts. Thank you to the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) team at 7 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, past and present, especially Mehdi Benna and Paul Mahaffy. The entire NGIMS team influenced the trajectory of my career with the launch of NGIMS onboard the NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission. Mehdi and Paul, your expertise in the acquisition and interpretation of mass spectrometer data was critical to the success of this dissertation. Thank you to the entire MAVEN team, including everyone who has participated in construction, launch, operations, and science. Without you this dissertation would not have been possible. Finally, I must thank the Professors, teachers, and other mentors who con- tributed to my education before I arrived at LPL. From the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), where my research career began: Professor John Ferraris, thank you for accepting me into your research group. I remember waiting outside your group meeting to ask to join your lab and managing to brag about my rank in Pro- fessor Biewer's organic chemistry class. Thank you to Drs. Doyun Lee and Grace Kalaw and the entire Ferraris lab: your mentorship was invaluable. Thank you also to Professors Mihaela Stefan, Kenneth Balkus, Gregg Dieckmann, John Sib- ert, Michael Biewer, Paul Pantano, Jie Zheng, Warren Goux, Steven Nielsen, and Mieczys law Dabkowski. Thank you all for your dedication to my learning. From the faculty of UCLA, I would like to thank Professors Timothy Deming, Yves Rubin, Heather Maynard, Paula Diaconescu, Neil Garg, and Kendall Houk. I learned an incredible amount of chemistry from you all in just a short period of time. Thank you to Dr. Steven Hardinger for your mentorship in teaching UCLA undergraduates over many quarters. Your dedication to teaching is inspiring. I must also acknowl- edge the work of so many wonderful teaching assistants at UTD and UCLA. To my chemistry teachers at the School of Science and Engineering Magnet, Dr. Wilson and Dr. Charles Tuttle, thank you for sparking my interest in science.