The complex dielectric properties of aqueous ammonia from 2 GHz - 8.5 GHz in support of the NASA Juno mission

A new model for the complex dielectric constant, ε, of aqueous ammonia (NH4OH) has been developed based on laboratory measurements in the frequency range between 2-8.5 GHz for ammonia concentrations of 0-8.5 %NH3/volume and temperatures between 277-297 K. The new model has been validated for tempera...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Duong, Danny
Published: Georgia Institute of Technology 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1853/42891
Description
Summary:A new model for the complex dielectric constant, ε, of aqueous ammonia (NH4OH) has been developed based on laboratory measurements in the frequency range between 2-8.5 GHz for ammonia concentrations of 0-8.5 %NH3/volume and temperatures between 277-297 K. The new model has been validated for temperatures up to 313 K, but may be consistently extrapolated up to 475 K and ammonia concentrations up to 20 %NH3/volume. The model fits 60.26 % of all laboratory measurements within 2σ uncertainty. The new model is identical to the Meissner and Wentz (2004) model of the complex dielectric constant of pure water, but it contains a correction for dissolved ammonia. A description of the experimental setups, uncertainties associated with the laboratory measurements, the model fitting process, the new model, and its application to approximating jovian cloud opacity for NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter are provided.