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1.
This work was carried out with the PROGRA2 experiment developed to measure the angular dependence of the polarization of light scattered by dust particles. The dust samples are fluffy aggregates (size range 0.01-1 mm) with constituent grains of about 10 nm. Various setups were used: samples deposited on surfaces, the same samples lifted under the effect of a draft, and particles levitating in microgravity conditions on board the CNES dedicated aircraft. For deposited particles, the maximum value of polarization (Pmax) follows the Umov law. For a cloud of particles (Pmax) near 100° phase angle decreases when: (i) multiple scattering between the particles—or between the grains inside the particles—increases, or (ii) the real part of the refractive index of the materials increases, or (iii) the size parameter of the constituent grains increases between 0.05 and 0.5. A negative branch in the polarization phase curve is found for deposited samples. For levitating particles made of a single material and a single size distribution, a positive increase of polarization appears at phase angles smaller than 20°; for mixtures of these materials the polarization is negative at the same phase angles. These results are compared to modeling results as well as to polarimetric observations of comets.  相似文献   

2.
Discovery by Cassini's plasma instrument of heavy positive and negative ions within Titan's upper atmosphere and ionosphere has advanced our understanding of ion neutral chemistry within Titan's upper atmosphere, primarily composed of molecular nitrogen, with ~2.5% methane. The external energy flux transforms Titan's upper atmosphere and ionosphere into a medium rich in complex hydrocarbons, nitriles and haze particles extending from the surface to 1200 km altitudes. The energy sources are solar UV, solar X-rays, Saturn's magnetospheric ions and electrons, solar wind and shocked magnetosheath ions and electrons, galactic cosmic rays (GCR) and the ablation of incident meteoritic dust from Enceladus’ E-ring and interplanetary medium. Here it is proposed that the heavy atmospheric ions detected in situ by Cassini for heights >950 km, are the likely seed particles for aerosols detected by the Huygens probe for altitudes <100 km. These seed particles may be in the form of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) containing both carbon and hydrogen atoms CnHx. There could also be hollow shells of carbon atoms, such as C60, called fullerenes which contain no hydrogen. The fullerenes may compose a significant fraction of the seed particles with PAHs contributing the rest. As shown by Cassini, the upper atmosphere is bombarded by magnetospheric plasma composed of protons, H2+ and water group ions. The latter provide keV oxygen, hydroxyl and water ions to Titan's upper atmosphere and can become trapped within the fullerene molecules and ions. Pickup keV N2+, N+ and CH4+ can also be implanted inside of fullerenes. Attachment of oxygen ions to PAH molecules is uncertain, but following thermalization O+ can interact with abundant CH4 contributing to the CO and CO2 observed in Titan's atmosphere. If an exogenic keV O+ ion is implanted into the haze particles, it could become free oxygen within those aerosols that eventually fall onto Titan's surface. The process of freeing oxygen within aerosols could be driven by cosmic ray interactions with aerosols at all heights. This process could drive pre-biotic chemistry within the descending aerosols. Cosmic ray interactions with grains at the surface, including water frost depositing on grains from cryovolcanism, would further add to abundance of trapped free oxygen. Pre-biotic chemistry could arise within surface microcosms of the composite organic-ice grains, in part driven by free oxygen in the presence of organics and any heat sources, thereby raising the astrobiological potential for microscopic equivalents of Darwin's “warm ponds” on Titan.  相似文献   

3.
Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has a thick nitrogen/methane atmosphere. The temperature and pressure conditions in Titan's atmosphere are such that the methane vapor should condense near the tropopause to form clouds. Several ground-based measurements have observed sparse cloud-like features in Titan's atmosphere, while the Cassini mission to Saturn has provided large scale images of the clouds. However, Titan's cloud formation conditions remain poorly constrained. Heterogeneous nucleation (from the vapor phase onto a solid or liquid aerosol surface) greatly enhances cloud formation relative to homogeneous nucleation. In order to elucidate the cloud formation mechanism near the tropopause, we have performed laboratory measurements of the adsorption of methane and ethane onto solid organic particles (tholins) representative of Titan's photochemical haze. We find that monolayers of methane adsorb onto tholin particles at saturation ratios less than unity. We also find that solid methane nucleates onto the adsorbed methane at a saturation ratio of S=1.07±0.008. This implies that Titan's methane clouds should form easily. This is consistent with recent measurements of the column of methane ruling out excessive methane supersaturation. In addition, we find ethane adsorbs onto tholin particles in a metastable phase prior to nucleation. However, ethane nucleation onto the adsorbed ethane occurs at a relatively high saturation ratio of S=1.36±0.08. These findings are consistent with the recent report of polar ethane clouds in Titan's lower stratosphere.  相似文献   

4.
The observed relation between the interstellar linear polarization curve parameters K and λ max characterizing the width and the wavelength of the polarization maximum, respectively, is interpreted quantitatively. We have considered 57 stars located in four dark clouds with evidence of star formation: in Taurus, Chamaeleon, around the stars ρ Oph and R CrA. In our modeling we have used the spheroidal dust grain model applied previously to simultaneously interpret the interstellar extinction and polarization curves in a wide wavelength range. The observed trend K ≈ 1.7λ max is shown to be most likely related to the growth of dust grains due to coagulation rather than accretion. The relationship of the interstellar polarization curve parameters K and λ max to the mean dust grain size is discussed.  相似文献   

5.
The Umov effect manifests itself as an inverse correlation between the linear polarization maximum of an object’s scattered light Pmax and its geometric albedo A. This effect is observed for the Moon, Mercury and Mars, and there are data suggesting this effect is valid for asteroids. The Umov effect is due to the contribution of interparticle multiple scattering that increases albedo and decreases polarization. We here study if the Umov effect can be extended to the case of single irregularly shaped particles with sizes comparable with the wavelength. This, in particular, is important for cometary dust polarimetry. We show the Umov effect being valid for weakly absorbing irregular particles (Im(m) ? 0.02) almost through the entire range of size parameters x considered. Highly absorbing particles (Im(m) > 0.02) follow the Umov effect only if x exceeds 14. In the case of weakly absorbing particles, the inverse correlation is essentially non-linear, which is caused by the contribution of particles with small x. However, averaging over many different types of irregularly shaped particles could make it significantly more linear. The size averaging does not change qualitatively the diagram log(Pmax)-log(A) for weakly absorbing particles. For single irregular particles whose sizes are comparable with wavelength, there is no reliable correlation between the slope of the polarization curve h near the inversion phase angle and geometric albedo A. Using the extended Umov Law, we estimate the geometric albedo of dust particles forming cometary circumnuclear haloes A = 0.1 − 0.2, which is a few times larger than the average geometric albedo over the entire comae. Note that, using the obtained values for A of cometary particles, one can derive their number density in circumnuclear haloes from photometric observations.  相似文献   

6.
Organic aerosols play a significant role in the properties and evolution of Titan's atmosphere. But our knowledge of them and their physico-chemical mechanisms of formation and evolution are currently limited to a few data obtained by Titan observations from the Earth or from space probes. For this reason, laboratory experiments are developed to simulate the atmospheric chemistry and produce analogues of these aerosols in order to understand better their properties and how they are formed. The plasma discharges are the most efficient devices for the production of such analogues. However, the existing plasmas simulations introduce experimental biases compared with the conditions of aerosols production in Titan's atmosphere: chemistry is induced by electrons instead of photons; the solid analogues are produced and deposited on solid surfaces; direct analysis of the particles inside the reactive chamber is not easy. In order to avoid some of these experimental problems, we have developed another method of production of Titan's aerosols analogues. It is based on a capacitively coupled radio-frequency (RF) cold plasma system at low pressure in a N2-CH4 gaseous mixture. In this plasma, solid particles produced from the gas phase are in levitation, thus preventing any wall effect on their production, and allowing the study of the formation and growth of the particles directly in the plasma. Moreover, the electron energy distribution of this plasma can be compared with the solar spectrum. This article describes the RF plasma experiment and presents the first results obtained with an initial N2-CH4 (90:10) gaseous mixture which produced our first studied analogues of Titan's aerosols.  相似文献   

7.
Simulations of Titan's atmospheric transmission and surface reflectivity have been developed in order to estimate how Titan's atmosphere and surface properties could affect performances of the Cassini radar experiment. In this paper we present a selection of models for Titan's haze, vertical rain distribution, and surface composition implemented in our simulations. We collected dielectric constant values for the Cassini radar wavelength (∼2.2 cm) for materials of interest for Titan: liquid methane, liquid mixture of methane-ethane, water ice, and light hydrocarbon ices. Due to the lack of permittivity values for Titan's haze particles in the microwave range, we performed dielectric constant (εr) measurements around 2.2 cm on tholins synthesized in laboratory. We obtained a real part of εr in the range of 2-2.5 and a loss tangent between 10−3 and 5×10−2. By combining aerosol distribution models (with hypothetical condensation at low altitudes) to surface models, we find the following results: (1) Aerosol-only atmospheres should cause no loss and are essentially transparent for Cassini radar, as expected by former analysis. (2) However, if clouds are present, some atmospheric models generate significant attenuation that can reach −50 dB, well below the sensitivity threshold of the receiver. In such cases, a 13.78 GHz radar would not be able to measure echoes coming from the surface. We thus warn about possible risks of misinterpretation if a “wet atmosphere” is not taken into account. (3) Rough surface scattering leads to a typical response of ∼−17 dB. These results will have important implications on future Cassini radar data analysis.  相似文献   

8.
The main gas-phase constituents of Titan's upper atmosphere, N2 and CH4, are photolyzed and radiolyzed by solar photons and magnetospheric electrons, respectively. The primary products of these chemical interactions evolve to heavier organic compounds that are likely to associate into the particles of haze layers that hide Titan's surface. The different theories and models that have been put forward to explain the characteristics and properties of the haze composites require a knowledge of their optical properties, which are determined by the complex refractive index. We present a new set of values for refractive index n and extinction coefficient k calculated directly from the transmittance and reflectance curves exhibited by a laboratory analogue of Titan's aerosols in the 200-900 nm range. Improvements in the aerosol analogue quality have been made. The effects of variables such as the uncertainty in sample thickness, aerosol porosity, and amount of scattered light on the final n and k values are assessed and discussed. Within the studied wavelength domain, n varies from 1.53 to 1.68 and k varies from 2.62×10−4 to 2.87×10−2. These final n and k values should be considered as a new reference to modelers who compute the properties of Titan's aerosols in trying to explain the atmospheric dynamics and surface characteristics.  相似文献   

9.
The atmospheres of extrasolar giant planets are modeled with various effective temperatures and gravities, with and without clouds. Bond albedos are computed by calculating the ratio of the flux reflected by a planet (integrated over wavelength) to the total stellar flux incident on the planet. This quantity is useful for estimating the effective temperature and evolution of a planet. We find it is sensitive to the stellar type of the primary. For a 5 MJup planet the Bond albedo varies from 0.4 to 0.3 to 0.6 as the primary star varies from A5V to G2V to M2V in spectral type. It is relatively insensitive to the effective temperature and gravity for cloud-free planets. Water clouds increase the reflectivity of the planet in the red, which increases the Bond albedo. The Bond albedo increases by an order of magnitude for a 13 MJup planet with an M2V primary when water clouds are present. Silicate clouds, on the other hand, can either increase or decrease the Bond albedo, depending on whether there are many small grains (the former) or few large grains (the latter).  相似文献   

10.
Erika L. Barth  Owen B. Toon 《Icarus》2006,182(1):230-250
Theoretical arguments point to and recent observations confirm the existence of clouds in Titan's atmosphere, yet we possess very little data on their particle size, composition and formation mechanism. A time-dependent microphysical model is used to study the evolution of ice clouds in Titan's atmosphere. The model simulates nucleation, condensational growth, evaporation, coagulation, and transport of particles in a column of atmosphere. A variety of cloud compositions are studied, including pure ethane clouds, pure methane clouds, and mixed methane-ethane clouds (all with tholin cores). The abundance of methane cloud particles may be limited by the number of ethane coated tholin nuclei rather than the number of tholins with hydrocarbon coatings. However, even the condensation of methane onto these relatively sparse ethane/tholin cloud particles is sufficient to keep the methane close to saturation. Typical methane supersaturations are of order 0.06 on the average. For simulations which take into account recent lab measurements indicating it is relatively easy for methane to nucleate onto tholin particles without an ethane-layer present, the three types of clouds (methane, ethane, and mixed) exist simultaneously. Pure methane clouds are the most abundant cloud type and serve to lower the supersaturation to about 0.04. Cloud production does not require a continuous surface source of methane. However, clouds produced by mean motions are not the visible methane clouds seen in recent Cassini and ground-based observations. Ethane clouds in the troposphere almost instantaneously nucleate methane to form mixed clouds. However, a thin ethane ‘haze’ remains just above the tropopause for some scenarios and the mixed clouds at the tropopause remain ?50% ethane by mass. Also, evaporation of methane from the mixed cloud particles near the surface leaves a thicker layer of ethane cloud particles at ∼10 km. Nevertheless, the precipitation rate of methane to Titan's surface is between 0.001 and 0.5 cm/terrestrial-year, depending on various initial conditions such as critical saturation, size and abundance of cloud condensation nuclei, surface sources and eddy diffusion.  相似文献   

11.
We present new results of Cassini's T9 flyby with complementary observations from T18. Based on Cassini plasma spectrometer (CAPS) and Cassini magnetometer (MAG), compositional evidence shows the upstream flow for both T9 and T18 appears composed of light ions (H+ and H2+), with external pressures ∼30 times lower than that for the earlier TA flyby where heavy ions dominated the magnetospheric plasma. When describing the plasma heating and sputtering of Titan's atmosphere, T9 and T18 can be considered interactions of low magnetospheric energy input. On the other hand, T5, when heavy ion fluxes are observed to be higher than typical (i.e., TA), represents the limiting case of high magnetospheric energy input to Titan's upper atmosphere. Anisotropy estimates of the upstream flow are 1<T⊥/T‖<3 and the flow is perpendicular to B, indicative of local picked up ions from Titan's H and H2 coronae extending to Titan's Hill sphere radius. Beyond this distance the corona forms a neutral torus that surrounds Saturn. The T9 flyby unexpectedly resulted in observation of two “wake” crossings referred to as Events 1 and 2. Event 2 was evidently caused by draped magnetosphere field lines, which are scavenging pickup ions from Titan's induced magnetopause boundary with outward flux ∼2×106 ions/cm2/s. The composition of this out flow is dominated by H2+ and H+ ions. Ionospheric flow away from Titan with ion flux ∼7×106 ion/cm2/s is observed for Event 1. In between Events 1 and 2 are high energy field aligned flows of magnetosphere protons that may have been accelerated by the convective electric field across Titan's topside ionosphere. T18 observations are much closer to Titan than T9, allowing one to probe this type of interaction down to altitudes ∼950 km. Comparisons with previously reported hybrid simulations are made.  相似文献   

12.
For several years now, an experimental simulation of Titan's atmosphere has been on going at LISA. A cold plasma is established in a gas mixture representative of the atmosphere of the satellite. In these experiments, more than 70 organic compounds have been identified, including the first identification in this type of experimental simulation of C4N2 already detected in its solid form on Titan, which suggests that the setup correctly mimics the chemistry of Titan's atmosphere.We have carried out the first experimental simulation including O-containing compounds in order to study the influence of the presence of CO on the chemical behavior of Titan's atmosphere. With the help of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and infrared spectroscopy (IRS) we can thus determine which minor species still undetected in Titan's atmosphere are likely to be present and understand the complex chemistry of the atmosphere of this satellite. Surprisingly we have identified unpredicted O-containing gaseous compounds, mainly ethylene oxide (also named oxirane, C2H4O). This molecule has been observed in the interstellar medium by observation in the millimeter region (Astrophys. J. 489 (1997) 553; Astron. Astrophys. 337 (1998) 275). On the contrary, the predicted O-compounds (formaldehyde and methanol) have not been identified in this experiment. Furthermore, we have identified NH3 in the gaseous products with an initial mixture of N2 (98%) and CH4 (2%).The paper describes the experimental device used in this work, in particular the IRS and GC–MS techniques. We also comment the results related to the detection of the O-containing compounds and NH3 and their implications on our knowledge of the chemistry of Titan's atmosphere and on the retrieval of the future Titan data expected from Cassini-Huygens.  相似文献   

13.
Titan, the largest satellite of Saturn, has a thick nitrogen/methane atmosphere with a thick global organic haze. A laboratory analogue of Titan's haze, called tholin, was formed in an inductively coupled plasma from nitrogen/methane=90/10 gas mixture at various pressures ranging from 13 to 2300 Pa. Chemical and optical properties of the resulting tholin depend on the deposition pressure in cold plasma. Structural analyses by IR and UV/VIS spectroscopy, microprobe laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry, and Raman spectroscopy suggest that larger amounts of aromatic ring structures with larger cluster size are formed at lower pressures (13 and 26 Pa) than at higher pressures (160 and 2300 Pa). Nitrogen is more likely to incorporate into carbon networks in tholins formed at lower pressures, while nitrogen is bonded as terminal groups at higher pressures. Elemental analysis reveals that the carbon/nitrogen ratio in tholins increases from 1.5-2 at lower pressures to 3 at 2300 Pa. The increase in the aromatic compounds and the decrease in C/N ratio in tholin formed at low pressures indicate the presence of the nitrogen-containing polycyclic aromatic compounds in tholin formed at low pressures. Tholin formed at high pressure (2300 Pa) consists of a polymer-like branched chain structure terminated with CH3, NH2, and CN with few aromatic compounds. Reddish-brown tholin films formed at low pressures (13-26 Pa) shows stronger absorptions (almost 10 times larger k-value) in the UV/VIS range than the yellowish tholin films formed at high pressures (160 and 2300 Pa). The tholins formed at low pressures may be better representations of Titan's haze than those formed at high pressures, because the optical properties of tholin formed at low pressures agree well with that of Khare et al. (1984a, Icarus 60, 127-137), which have been shown to account for Titan's observed geometric albedo. Thus, the nitrogen-containing polycyclic aromatic compounds we find in tholin formed at low pressure may be present in Titan's haze. These aromatic compounds may have a significant influence on the thermal structure and complex organic chemistry in Titan's atmosphere, because they are efficient absorbers of UV radiation and efficient charge exchange intermediaries. Our results also indicate that the haze layers at various altitudes might have different chemical and optical properties.  相似文献   

14.
The descent imager/spectral radiometer (DISR) instrument aboard the Huygens probe into the atmosphere of Titan measured the brightness of sunlight using a complement of spectrometers, photometers, and cameras that covered the spectral range from 350 to 1600 nm, looked both upward and downward, and made measurements at altitudes from 150 km to the surface. Measurements from the upward-looking visible and infrared spectrometers are described in Tomasko et al. [2008a. Measurements of methane absorption by the descent imager/spectral radiometer (DISR) during its descent through Titan's atmosphere. Planet. Space Sci., this volume]. Here, we very briefly review the measurements by the violet photometers, the downward-looking visible and infrared spectrometers, and the upward-looking solar aureole (SA) camera. Taken together, the DISR measurements constrain the vertical distribution and wavelength dependence of opacity, single-scattering albedo, and phase function of the aerosols in Titan's atmosphere.Comparison of the inferred aerosol properties with computations of scattering from fractal aggregate particles indicates the size and shape of the aerosols. We find that the aggregates require monomers of radius 0.05 μm or smaller and that the number of monomers in the loose aggregates is roughly 3000 above 60 km. The single-scattering albedo of the aerosols above 140 km altitude is similar to that predicted for some tholins measured in laboratory experiments, although we find that the single-scattering albedo of the aerosols increases with depth into the atmosphere between 140 and 80 km altitude, possibly due to condensation of other gases on the haze particles. The number density of aerosols is about 5/cm3 at 80 km altitude, and decreases with a scale height of 65 km to higher altitudes. The aerosol opacity above 80 km varies as the wavelength to the −2.34 power between 350 and 1600 nm.Between 80 and 30 km the cumulative aerosol opacity increases linearly with increasing depth in the atmosphere. The total aerosol opacity in this altitude range varies as the wavelength to the −1.41 power. The single-scattering phase function of the aerosols in this region is also consistent with the fractal particles found above 60 km.In the lower 30 km of the atmosphere, the wavelength dependence of the aerosol opacity varies as the wavelength to the −0.97 power, much less than at higher altitudes. This suggests that the aerosols here grow to still larger sizes, possibly by incorporation of methane into the aerosols. Here the cumulative opacity also increases linearly with depth, but at some wavelengths the rate is slightly different than above 30 km altitude.For purely fractal particles in the lowest few km, the intensity looking upward opposite to the azimuth of the sun decreases with increasing zenith angle faster than the observations in red light if the single-scattering albedo is assumed constant with altitude at these low altitudes. This discrepancy can be decreased if the single-scattering albedo decreases with altitude in this region. A possible explanation is that the brightest aerosols near 30 km altitude contain significant amounts of methane, and that the decreasing albedo at lower altitudes may reflect the evaporation of some of the methane as the aerosols fall into dryer layers of the atmosphere. An alternative explanation is that there may be spherical particles in the bottom few kilometers of the atmosphere.  相似文献   

15.
In this paper, we use a statistical thermodynamic approach to quantify the efficiency with which clathrates on the surface of Titan trap noble gases. We consider different values of the Ar, Kr, Xe, CH4, C2H6 and N2 abundances in the gas phase that may be representative of Titan's early atmosphere. We discuss the effect of the various parameters that are chosen to represent the interactions between the guest species and the ice cage in our calculations. We also discuss the results of varying the size of the clathrate cages. We show that the trapping efficiency of clathrates is high enough to significantly decrease the atmospheric concentrations of Xe and, to a lesser extent, of Kr, irrespective of the initial gas phase composition, provided that these clathrates are abundant enough on the surface of Titan. In contrast, we find that Ar is poorly trapped in clathrates and, as a consequence, that the atmospheric abundance of argon should remain almost constant. We conclude that the mechanism of trapping noble gases via clathration can explain the deficiency in primordial Xe and Kr observed in Titan's atmosphere by Huygens, but that this mechanism is not sufficient to explain the deficiency in Ar.  相似文献   

16.
Methane is key to sustaining Titan's thick nitrogen atmosphere. However, methane is destroyed and converted to heavier hydrocarbons irreversibly on a relatively short timescale of approximately 10-100 million years. Without the warming provided by CH4-generated hydrocarbon hazes in the stratosphere and the pressure induced opacity in the infrared, particularly by CH4-N2 and H2-N2 collisions in the troposphere, the atmosphere could be gradually reduced to as low as tens of millibar pressure. An understanding of the source-sink cycle of methane is thus crucial to the evolutionary history of Titan and its atmosphere. In this paper we propose that a complex photochemical-meteorological-hydrogeochemical cycle of methane operates on Titan. We further suggest that although photochemistry leads to the loss of methane from the atmosphere, conversion to a global ocean of ethane is unlikely. The behavior of methane in the troposphere and the surface, as measured by the Cassini-Huygens gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, together with evidence of cryovolcanism reported by the Cassini visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, represents a “methalogical” cycle on Titan, somewhat akin to the hydrological cycle on Earth. In the absence of net loss to the interior, it would represent a closed cycle. However, a source is still needed to replenish the methane lost to photolysis. A hydrogeochemical source deep in the interior of Titan holds promise. It is well known that in serpentinization, hydration of ultramafic silicates in terrestrial oceans produces H2(aq), whose reaction with carbon grains or carbon dioxide in the crustal pores produces methane gas. Appropriate geological, thermal, and pressure conditions could have existed in and below Titan's purported water-ammonia ocean for “low-temperature” serpentinization to occur in Titan's accretionary heating phase. On the other hand, impacts could trigger the process at high temperatures. In either instance, storage of methane as a stable clathrate-hydrate in Titan's interior for later release to the atmosphere is quite plausible. There is also some likelihood that the production of methane on Titan by serpentinization is a gradual and continuous on-going process.  相似文献   

17.
To explain the observed abundances of CO2 in Titan's atmosphere, a relatively high water deposition into the atmosphere needs to be invoked due to the importance of H2O photolysis in CO2 production. A likely source of H2O is icy dust particles from space. This paper considers the direct dust input to Titan's atmosphere from the interplanetary environment, and also ejecta particles from micrometeoroid impacts with the icy satellites Hyperion, Iapetus and Phoebe. It is found that the likely mass influx to Titan is 10–16 to 10–15 kg m–2 s–1. This mass influx is an order of magnitude too low to explain the observed levels of CO2 in Titan's atmosphere in the context of a recent photochemical model. This leads one to speculate as to the likelihood of one large impact to Titan in the recent past;i.e., that the atmosphere is not in equilibrium but is cnrrently losing CO2.  相似文献   

18.
Solar UV is the principal energy source impinging the atmosphere of Titan while the energy from the electrons in Saturn's magnetosphere is less than 0.5% of the UV light. Titan haze analogs were prepared by the photolysis of a mixture of gases that simulate the composition of its atmosphere (nitrogen, methane, hydrogen, acetylene, ethylene, and cyanoacetylene). The real (n) and imaginary (k) parts of the complex refractive index of haze analogs formed from four different gas mixtures were calculated from the spectral properties of the solid polymer in UV-visible, near infrared and infrared wavelength spectral regions. The value of n was constant at 1.6±0.1 throughout the 0.2-2.5 μm region. The variation of k with wavelength for the values derived for Titan has a lower error than the absolute values of k so the more significant comparisons are with the slopes of the k(λ) plots in the UV-VIS region. Three of the photochemical Titan haze analogs had slopes comparable to those derived for Titan from the Voyager data (Rages and Pollack, 1980, Icarus 41, 119-130; McKay and Toon, 1992, in: Proceedings of the Symposium on Titan, in: ESA SP, Vol. 338, pp. 185-190). The slopes of the k(λ) plots for haze analogs prepared by spark discharge (Khare et al., 1984, Icarus 60, 127-137) and plasma discharge (Ramirez et al., 2002, Icarus 156, 515-529) were also comparable to Titan's. These finding show that the k(λ) plots do not differentiate between different laboratory simulations of atmospheric chemistry on Titan in the UV-VIS near IR region (0.2-2.5 microns). There is a large difference between the k(λ) in the infrared between the haze analogs prepared photochemically and analogs prepared using a plasma discharges (Khare et al., 1984, Icarus 60, 127-137; Coll et al., 1999, Planet. Space Sci. 47, 1331-1340; Khare et al., 2002, Icarus 160, 172-182). The C/N ratio in the haze analog prepared by discharges is in the 2-11 range while that of the photochemical analogs is in the 18-24 range. The use of discharges and UV light for initiating the chemistry in Titan's atmosphere is discussed.  相似文献   

19.
Our model [Dimitrov, V., Bar-Nun, A., 1999. A model of energy dependent agglomeration of hydrocarbon aerosol particles and implication to Titan's aerosol. J. Aerosol. Sci. 30(1), 35-49] describes the experimentally found polymerization of C2H2 and HCN to form aerosol embryos, their growth and adherence to form various aerosols objects [Bar-Nun, A., Kleinfeld, I., Ganor, E., 1988. Shape and optical properties of aerosols formed by photolysis of C2H2, C2H4 and HCN. J. Geophys. Res. 93, 8383-8387]. These loose fractal objects describe well the findings of DISR on the Huygens probe [Tomasko, M.G., Bézard, B., Doose, L., Engel, S., Karkoschka, E., 2008. Measurements of methane absorption by the descent imager/spectral radiometer (DISR) during its descent through Titan's atmosphere. Planet. Space Sci., this issue, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2007]. These include (1) various regular objects of R=(0.035-0.064)×10−6 m, as compared with DISR's 0.05×10−6 m; (2) diverse low and high fractal structures composed of random combinations of various regular and irregular objects; (3) the number density of fractal particles is 6.9×106 m−3 at Z=100 km, as compared with DISR's finding of 5.0×106 m−3 at Z=80 km; (4) the number of structural units per higher fractals in the atmosphere at Z∼100 km is (2400-2700), as compared with DISR's 3000, and their size being of R=(5.4-6.4)×10−6 m will satisfy this value and (5) condensation of CH4 on the highly fractal structures could begin at the altitude where thin methane clouds were observed, filling somewhat the new open fractal structures.  相似文献   

20.
Spectroscopic studies of the homogeneous and heterogeneous crystallization of supercooled ethane aerosol droplets performed under conditions representative of those in Titan's lower atmosphere are presented. Pure ethane aerosols and both internally- and externally-mixed ensembles of ethane/acetylene and ethane/carbon dioxide aerosols were generated in a bath gas cooling cell and their freezing dynamics monitored using infrared absorption spectroscopy. A detailed overview of the spectroscopic signatures of pure ethane and mixed ethane/acetylene and ethane/carbon dioxide aerosols and their phase-dependence is provided. The ice-nucleating efficiencies of acetylene and carbon dioxide aerosols were compared, as were the efficiencies of freezing via an immersion or contact freezing mechanism. The spectral data provided will be of significant use for remote sensing applications, while the nucleation studies have important consequences for models of Titan's ethane clouds.  相似文献   

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