The international planetary patrol program: An assessment of the first three years

Day-to-day and hour-to-hour changes in the large-scale atmospheric and surface features of the planets can now be studied more effectively than previously possible. Since 1969 a network of observatories has obtained almost uninterrupted photographic coverage during all apparitions of Jupiter and Mars, plus some of Venus. Patrol films and catalogues are available to the scientific community. Recent or current analyses include the distribution and motion of clouds on Mars, the development and decay of Martian dust storms, the seasonal, diurnal and random fluctuations in contrast between adjacent light and dark regions on Mars, the detection of vertical shear in the Jovian atmosphere, the longitudinal oscillation of the Red Spot, the dependence of rotation period on xenographic latitude and on time, the eruption and spread of SEB disturbances, and the retrograde circulation of the Venus cloud deck.