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Dr. Hood's research currently focuses on satellite data studies of the Earth's stratosphere, gas-grain interactions in the early solar nebula, and geophysical studies of the Moon and Mars. The stratospheric work is aimed primarily toward understanding effects of solar ultraviolet variability on ozone, temperature, and dynamics with application to the sun-climate problem. Distinguishing among anthropogenic and natural sources of long-term variability in the stratosphere is also a topic of major interest. The early solar system work concentrates on theoretical models for the origin of chondrules (small, once-molten grains that constitute a major fraction of the mass of the most primitive meteorites). A model involving passage of precursor particles through gas dynamic shock waves in the nebula is currently being explored. The lunar and Mars geophysics work focuses mainly on the analysis of vector magnetometer measurements obtained in low-altitude orbits by the Lunar Prospector and Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. A major application of the latter measurements is to understand the origin and implications of crustal paleomagnetism on both bodies.
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