Atmospheric angular momentum variations of Earth, Mars and Venus at seasonal time scales

Atmospheric angular momentum variations of a planet are associated with the global atmospheric mass redistribution and the wind variability. The exchange of angular momentum between the fluid layers and the solid planet is the main cause for the variations of the planetary rotation at seasonal time scales. In the present study, we investigate the angular momentum variations of the Earth, Mars and Venus, using geodetic observations, output of state-of-the-art global circulation models as well as assimilated data. We discuss the similarities and differences in angular momentum variations, planetary rotation and angular momentum exchange for the three terrestrial planets. We show that the atmospheric angular momentum variations for Mars and Earth are mainly annual and semi-annual whereas they are expected to be “diurnal” on Venus. The wind terms have the largest contributions to the LOD changes of the Earth and Venus whereas the matter term is dominant on Mars due to the CO₂ sublimation/condensation. The corresponding LOD variations (ΔLOD) have similar amplitudes on Mars and Earth but are much larger on Venus, though more difficult to observe.     

Effect of angular momentum distribution on gravitational loss-cone instability in stellar clusters around a massive black hole

We study the small perturbations in spherical and thin disc stellar clusters surrounding a massive black hole. Because of the black hole, stars with sufficiently low angular momentum escape from the system through the loss cone. We show that the stability properties of spherical clusters crucially depend on whether the distribution of stars is monotonic or non-monotonic in angular momentum. It turns out that only non-monotonic distributions can be unstable. At the same time, instability in disc clusters is possible for both types of distribution.