Dmitriy V. Titov

The 2011 David Bates Medal is awarded to Dmitriy V. Titov for his exceptional contribution to the field of atmospheric sciences of the terrestrial planets and major role in the definition and outstanding success of the ESA Venus Express mission.

Dmitriy Titov obtained his PhD in 1985. From 1985 to 1998, he was employed as a senior researcher at the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He came to the Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung (on leave from IKI) in 1998. Titov is internationally recognized for his work on the atmospheres of the terrestrial planets. Working in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, he was involved in the analysis of Venera data to study the aerosols properties of Venus and the microphysics of its cloud layers, as well as the abundances of water vapour and sulphur dioxide and their role in the photochemical production of sulphuric acid, a main constituent of Venus’ clouds. As an investigator on the Phobos mission he studied water vapour in the atmosphere of Mars and the mechanisms for exchange of water with the surface. Later, he was involved in the analysis of water vapour from the Mars Pathfinder near-infrared data obtained at the surface, and an active co-investigator on the PFS and the OMEGA instruments on Mars Express. He also developed a new method to study the aerosol distribution on Mars using the 2.7 m CO2 band and applied it to the spectrum of Mars recorded by the Infrared Space Observatory. Titov took the leading role in the definition and proposal to the European Space Agency of the very successful Venus Express mission. Subsequently, he was responsible as Science Coordinator for organising the scientific operation of the spacecraft and coordinating the investigator teams. It is primarily due to him that the mission exists, and that it has been an outstanding success. In addition to his project work he has been very active in the VMC (Venus Monitoring Camera) and VIRTIS (Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) experiments on Venus Express, leading to numerous important findings and publications in prestigious international journals. Finally, he organised and edited a two-volume special edition of the Journal of Geophysical Research covering the whole range of Venus Express scientific results.