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1.
Thermal-infrared imaging of Jupiter and Saturn using the NASA/IRTF and Subaru observatories are quantitatively analyzed to assess the capabilities for reproducing and extending the zonal mean atmospheric results of the Cassini/CIRS experiment. We describe the development of a robust, systematic and reproducible approach to the acquisition and reduction of planetary images in the mid-infrared (7-25 μm), and perform an adaptation and validation of the optimal estimation, correlated-k retrieval algorithm described by Irwin et al. [Irwin, P., Teanby, N., de Kok, R., Fletcher, L., Howett, C., Tsang, C., Wilson, C., Calcutt, S., Nixon, C., Parrish, P., 2008. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Trans. 109 (6), 1136-1150] for channel-integrated radiances. Synthetic spectral analyses and a comparison to Cassini results are used to verify our abilities to retrieve temperatures, haze opacities and gaseous abundances from filtered imaging. We find that ground-based imaging with a sufficiently high spatial resolution is able to reproduce the three-dimensional temperature and para-H2 fields measured by spacecraft visiting Jupiter and Saturn, allowing us to investigate vertical wind shear, pressure and, with measured cloud-top winds, Ertel potential vorticity on potential temperature surfaces. Furthermore, by scaling vertical profiles of NH3, PH3, haze opacity and hydrocarbons as free parameters during thermal retrievals, we can produce meridional results comparable with CIRS spectroscopic investigations. This paper demonstrates that mid-IR imaging instruments operating at ground-based observatories have access to several dynamical and chemical diagnostics of the atmospheric state of the gas giants, offering the prospect for quantitative studies over much longer baselines and often covering much wider areas than is possible from spaceborne platforms.  相似文献   

2.
The Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) has been used to derive the vertical and meridional variation of temperature and phosphine (PH3) abundance in Saturn's upper troposphere. PH3 has a significant effect on the measured radiances in the thermal infrared and between May 2004 and September 2005 CIRS recorded thousands of spectra in both the far (10-600 cm−1) and mid (600-1400 cm−1) infrared, at a variety of latitudes covering the southern hemisphere. Low spectral resolution (15 cm−1) data has been used to constrain the temperature structure of the troposphere between 100 and 500 mbar. The vertical distributions of phosphine and ammonia were retrieved from far-infrared spectra at the highest spectral resolution (0.5 cm−1), and lower resolution (2.5 cm−1) mid-infrared data were used to map the meridional variation in the abundance of phosphine in the 250-500 mbar range. Temperature variations at the 250 mbar level are shown to occur on the same scale as the prograde and retrograde jets in Saturn's atmosphere [Porco, C.C., and 34 colleagues, 2005. Science 307, 1243-1247]. The PH3 abundance at 250 mbar is found to be enhanced at the equator when compared with mid-latitudes. At mid latitudes we see anti-correlation between temperature and PH3 abundance at 250 mbar, phosphine being enhanced at 45° S and depleted at 25 and 55° S. The vertical distribution is markedly different polewards of 60-65° S, with depleted PH3 at 500 mbar but a slower decline in abundance with altitude when compared with the mid-latitudes. This variation is similar to the variations of cloud and aerosol parameters observed in the visible and near infrared, and may indicate the subsidence of tropospheric air at polar latitudes, coupled with a diminished sunlight penetration depth reducing the rate of PH3 photolysis in the polar region.  相似文献   

3.
Thermal infrared spectra of Saturn from 10-1400 cm−1 at 15 cm−1 spectral resolution and a spatial resolution of 1°-2° latitude have been obtained by the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer [Flasar, F.M., and 44 colleagues, 2004. Space Sci. Rev. 115, 169-297]. Many thousands of spectra, acquired over eighteen-months of observations, are analysed using an optimal estimation retrieval code [Irwin, P.G.J., Parrish, P., Fouchet, T., Calcutt, S.B., Taylor, F.W., Simon-Miller, A.A., Nixon, C.A., 2004. Icarus 172, 37-49] to retrieve the temperature structure and para-hydrogen distribution over Saturn's northern (winter) and southern (summer) hemispheres. The vertical temperature structure is analysed in detail to study seasonal asymmetries in the tropopause height (65-90 mbar), the location of the radiative-convective boundary (350-500 mbar), and the variation with latitude of a temperature knee (between 150 and 300 mbar) which was first observed in inversions of Voyager/IRIS spectra [Hanel, R., and 15 colleagues, 1981. Science 212, 192-200; Hanel, R., Conrath, B., Flasar, F.M., Kunde, V., Maguire, W., Pearl, J.C., Pirraglia, J., Samuelson, R., Cruikshank, D.P., Gautier, D., Gierasch, P.J., Horn, L., Ponnamperuma, C., 1982. Science 215, 544-548]. Uncertainties due to both the modelling of spectral absorptions (collision-induced absorption coefficients, tropospheric hazes, helium abundance) and the nature of our retrieval algorithm are quantified.Temperatures in the stratosphere near 1 mbar show a 25-30 K temperature difference between the north pole and south pole. This asymmetry becomes less pronounced with depth as the radiative time constant for the atmospheric response increases at deeper pressure levels. Hemispherically-symmetric small-scale temperature structures associated with zonal winds are superimposed onto the temperature asymmetry for pressures greater than 100 mbar. The para-hydrogen fraction in the 100-400 mbar range is greater than equilibrium predictions for the southern hemisphere and parts of the northern hemisphere, and less than equilibrium predictions polewards of 40° N.The temperature knee between 150-300 mbar is larger in the summer hemisphere than in the winter, smaller and higher at the equator, deeper and larger in the equatorial belts and small at the poles. Solar heating on tropospheric haze is proposed as a possible mechanism for this effect; the increased efficiency of ortho- to para-hydrogen conversion in the southern hemisphere is consistent with the presence of larger aerosols in the summer hemisphere, which we demonstrate to be qualitatively consistent with previous studies of Saturn's tropospheric aerosol distribution.  相似文献   

4.
The latitudinal variation of Saturn’s tropospheric composition (NH3, PH3 and AsH3) and aerosol properties (cloud altitudes and opacities) are derived from Cassini/VIMS 4.6-5.1 μm thermal emission spectroscopy on the planet’s nightside (April 22, 2006). The gaseous and aerosol distributions are used to trace atmospheric circulation and chemistry within and below Saturn’s cloud decks (in the 1- to 4-bar region). Extensive testing of VIMS spectral models is used to assess and minimise the effects of degeneracies between retrieved variables and sensitivity to the choice of aerosol properties. Best fits indicate cloud opacity in two regimes: (a) a compact cloud deck centred in the 2.5-2.8 bar region, symmetric between the northern and southern hemispheres, with small-scale opacity variations responsible for numerous narrow light/dark axisymmetric lanes; and (b) a hemispherically asymmetric population of aerosols at pressures less than 1.4 bar (whose exact altitude and vertical structure is not constrained by nightside spectra) which is 1.5-2.0× more opaque in the summer hemisphere than in the north and shows an equatorial maximum between ±10° (planetocentric).Saturn’s NH3 spatial variability shows significant enhancement by vertical advection within ±5° of the equator and in axisymmetric bands at 23-25°S and 42-47°N. The latter is consistent with extratropical upwelling in a dark band on the poleward side of the prograde jet at 41°N (planetocentric). PH3 dominates the morphology of the VIMS spectrum, and high-altitude PH3 at p < 1.3 bar has an equatorial maximum and a mid-latitude asymmetry (elevated in the summer hemisphere), whereas deep PH3 is latitudinally-uniform with off-equatorial maxima near ±10°. The spatial distribution of AsH3 shows similar off-equatorial maxima at ±7° with a global abundance of 2-3 ppb. VIMS appears to be sensitive to both (i) an upper tropospheric circulation (sensed by NH3 and upper-tropospheric PH3 and hazes) and (ii) a lower tropospheric circulation (sensed by deep PH3, AsH3 and the lower cloud deck).  相似文献   

5.
The three-dimensional structure of Saturn's intense equatorial jet from latitudes 8° N to 20° S is revealed from detailed measurements of the motions and spectral reflectivity of clouds at visible wavelengths on high resolution images obtained by the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) in 2004 and early 2005. Cloud speeds at two altitude levels are measured in the near infrared filters CB2 and CB3 matching the continuum (effective wavelengths 750 and 939 nm) and in the MT2 and MT3 filters matching two methane absorption bands (effective wavelengths 727 and 889 nm). Radiative transfer models in selective filters covering an ample spectral range (250-950 nm) require the existence of two detached aerosol layers in the equator: an uppermost thin stratospheric haze extending between the pressure levels ∼20 and 40 mbar (tropopause level) and below it, a dense tropospheric haze-cloud layer extending between 50 mbar and the base of the ammonia cloud (between ∼1 and 1.4 bar). Individual cloud elements are detected and tracked in the tropospheric dense haze at 50 and 700 mbar (altitude levels separated by 142 km). Between latitudes 5° N and 12° S the winds increase their velocity with depth from 265 m s−1 at the 50 mbar pressure level to 365 m s−1 at 700 mbar. These values are below the high wind speeds of 475 m s−1 measured at these latitudes during the Voyager era in 1980-1981, indicating that the equatorial jet has suffered a significant intensity change between that period and 1996-2005 or that the tracers of the flow used in the Voyager images were rooted at deeper levels than those in Cassini images.  相似文献   

6.
Hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere of Saturn are known, from Voyager, ground-based, and early Cassini results, to vary in emission intensity with latitude. Of particular interest is the marked increase in hydrocarbon line intensity near the south pole during southern summer, as the increased line intensity cannot be simply explained by the increased temperatures observed in that region since the variations between C2H2 and C2H6 emission in the south pole region are different. In order to measure the latitudinal variations of hydrocarbons in Saturn's southern hemisphere we have used 3 cm−1 resolution Cassini CIRS data from 2006 and combined this with measurements from the ground in October 2006 at NASA's IRTF using Celeste, an infrared high-resolution cryogenic grating spectrometer. These two data sets have been used to infer the molecular abundances of C2H2 and C2H6 across the southern hemisphere in the 1-10 mbar altitude region. We find that the latitudinal acetylene profile follows the yearly average mean daily insolation except at the southern pole where it peaks in abundance. Near the equator (5° S) the C2H2 abundance at the 1.2 mbar level is (1.6±0.19)×10−7 and it decreases by a factor of 2.7 from the equator toward the pole. However, at the pole (∼87° S) the C2H2 abundance jumps to (1.8±0.3)×10−7, approximately the equatorial value. The C2H6 abundance near the equator at the 2 mbar level is (0.7±0.1)×10−5 and stays approximately constant until mid-latitudes where it increases gradually toward the pole, attaining a value of (1.4±0.4)×10−5 there. The increase in ethane toward the pole with the corresponding decrease in acetylene is consistent with southern hemisphere meridional winds [Greathouse, T.K., Lacy, J.H., Bézard, B., Moses, J.I., Griffith, C.A., Richter, M.J., 2005. Icarus 177, 18-31]. The localized increase in acetylene at the pole provides evidence that there is dynamical transport of hydrocarbons from the equator to the southern pole.  相似文献   

7.
In this work, we describe an analysis of the internal solar radiation fields in Saturn's atmosphere. The aim of this paper is to study how the solar radiation flux in optical wavelengths (0.25-1.0 μm) is attenuated, primarily by the effect of the aerosols located close to the tropopause level, retrieving also the corresponding solar heating rates. We use a doubling-adding method and previous results on the vertical cloud and haze structure of Saturn's atmosphere. Our study shows that the maximum penetration level (∼250 mbar) for these wavelengths is substantially higher than previously expected because of the huge optical thickness of the tropospheric haze described in all vertical cloud structure models. We compare our results with previous estimates and parameterizations for seasonal climate models and propose a new approach for future models, with an intense and concentrated heating rate close to the top level of the tropospheric haze. Given that our spectral range accounts for about the 70% of the total solar flux, and using previous estimates for the penetration levels of infrared radiation in Saturn's atmosphere, we conclude solar radiation effect is negligible at levels below 600 mbar. This result is fundamental for understanding the role of solar radiation in the general atmospheric circulation of Saturn.  相似文献   

8.
The dynamics of Titan's stratosphere is discussed in this study, based on a comparison between observations by the CIRS instrument on board the Cassini spacecraft, and results of the 2-dimensional circulation model developed at the Institute Pierre-Simon Laplace, available at http://www.lmd.jussieu.fr/titanDbase [Rannou, P., Lebonnois, S., Hourdin, F., Luz, D., 2005. Adv. Space Res. 36, 2194-2198]. The comparison aims at both evaluating the model's capabilities and interpreting the observations concerning: (1) dynamical and thermal structure using temperature retrievals from Cassini/CIRS and the vertical profile of zonal wind at the Huygens landing site obtained by Huygens/DWE; and (2) vertical and latitudinal profiles of stratospheric gases deduced from Cassini/CIRS data. The modeled thermal structure is similar to that inferred from observations (Cassini/CIRS and Earth-based observations). However, the upper stratosphere (above 0.05 mbar) is systematically too hot in the 2D-CM, and therefore the stratopause region is not well represented. This bias may be related to the haze structure and to misrepresented radiative effects in this region, such as the cooling effect of hydrogen cyanide (HCN). The 2D-CM produces a strong atmospheric superrotation, with zonal winds reaching 200 m s−1 at high winter latitudes between 200 and 300 km altitude (0.1-1 mbar). The modeled zonal winds are in good agreement with retrieved wind fields from occultation observations, Cassini/CIRS and Huygens/DWE. Changes to the thermal structure are coupled to changes in the meridional circulation and polar vortex extension, and therefore affect chemical distributions, especially in winter polar regions. When a higher altitude haze production source is used, the resulting modeled meridional circulation is weaker and the vertical and horizontal mixing due to the polar vortex is less extended in latitude. There is an overall good agreement between modeled chemical distributions and observations in equatorial regions. The difference in observed vertical gradients of C2H2 and HCN may be an indicator of the relative strength of circulation and chemical loss of HCN. The negative vertical gradient of ethylene in the low stratosphere at 15° S, cannot be modeled with simple 1-dimensional models, where a strong photochemical sink in the middle stratosphere would be necessary. It is explained here by dynamical advection from the winter pole towards the equator in the low stratosphere and by the fact that ethylene does not condense. Near the winter pole (80° N), some compounds (C4H2, C3H4) exhibit an (interior) minimum in the observed abundance vertical profiles, whereas 2D-CM profiles are well mixed all along the atmospheric column. This minimum can be a diagnostic of the strength of the meridional circulation, and of the spatial extension of the winter polar vortex where strong descending motions are present. In the summer hemisphere, observed stratospheric abundances are uniform in latitude, whereas the model maintains a residual enrichment over the summer pole from the spring cell due to a secondary meridional overturning between 1 and 50 mbar, at latitudes south of 40-50° S. The strength, as well as spatial and temporal extensions of this structure are a difficulty, that may be linked to possible misrepresentation of horizontally mixing processes, due to the restricted 2-dimensional nature of the model. This restriction should also be kept in mind as a possible source of other discrepancies.  相似文献   

9.
Observations of the H2 S(0) and S(1) quadrupole lines in the four giant planets by the short-wavelength spectrometer of the Infrared Space Observatory are analyzed. These lines probe pressure levels located between 10 and 1 mbar and allow us to determine the stratospheric hydrogen para fraction for the first time. In Jupiter and Saturn, the stratospheric para fraction is close to its tropopause value. In the stratosphere of these planets as well as in Neptune’s, the para fraction presents a significant departure from thermodynamic equilibrium. This situation results from a lagged conversion between the ortho and the para states as molecular hydrogen is transported upward under the influence of turbulent eddy diffusion. In contrast, the uranian stratosphere lies close to thermodynamic equilibrium. The magnitude of the departure from thermodynamic equilibrium appears to be anti-correlated with the amount of stratospheric aerosols. To validate this assumption, we estimate the hydrogen equilibration time with a one-dimensional diffusion model for different conversion processes in the gas phase or on aerosols. The comparison between our results and the tropospheric estimates from Conrath et al. (1998, Icarus,135, 501-517) shows that paramagnetic conversion on aerosols matches the estimated tropospheric and stratospheric relaxation times in the four giant planets. In contrast, paramagnetic conversion in the gas phase can only explain the relaxation times measured in Jupiter and Saturn atmospheres. This situation provides quantitative evidence for an equilibration mechanism dominated by conversion on aerosols.  相似文献   

10.
We present a study of the vertical structure of clouds and hazes in the upper atmosphere of Saturn's Southern Hemisphere during 1994-2003, about one third of a Saturn year, based on Hubble Space Telescope images. The photometrically calibrated WFPC2 images cover the spectral region between the near-UV (218-255 nm) and the near-IR (953-1042 nm), including the 890 nm methane band. Using a radiative transfer code, we have reproduced the observed center-to-limb variations in absolute reflectivity at selected latitudes which allowed us to characterize the vertical structure of the entire hemisphere during this period. A model atmosphere with two haze layers has been used to study the variation of hazes with latitude and to characterize their temporal changes. Both hazes are located above a thick cloud, putatively composed of ammonia ice. An upper thin haze in the stratosphere (between 1 and 10 mbar) is found to be persistent and formed by small particles (radii ∼0.2 μm). The lower thicker haze close to the tropopause level shows a strong latitudinal dependence in its optical thickness (typically τ∼20-40 at the equator but τ∼5 at the pole, at 814 nm). This tropospheric haze is blue-absorbent and extends from 50 to 100 mbar to about ∼400 mbar. Both hazes show temporal variability, but at different time-scales. First, there is a tendency for the optical thickness of the stratospheric haze to increase at all latitudes as insolation increases. Second, the tropospheric haze shows mid-term changes (over time scales from months to 1-2 years) in its optical thickness (typically by a factor of 2). Such changes always occur within a rather narrow latitude band (width ∼5-10°), affecting almost all latitudes but at different times. Third, we detected a long-term (∼10 year) decrease in the blue single-scattering albedo of the tropospheric haze particles, most intense in the equatorial and polar areas. Long-term changes follow seasonal insolation variations smoothly without any apparent delay, suggesting photochemical processes that affect the particles optical properties as well as their size. In contrast, mid-term changes are sudden and show various time-scales, pointing to a dynamical origin.  相似文献   

11.
Moist convective storms constitute a key aspect in the global energy budget of the atmospheres of the giant planets. Among them, Saturn is known to develop the largest scale convective storms in the Solar System, the Great White Spots (GWS) which occur rarely and have been detected once every 30 years approximately. On the average, Saturn seems to show much less convective storms than Jupiter with smaller size and reduced frequency and intensity. Here we present detailed simulations of the onset and development of storms at the Equator and mid-latitudes of Saturn. These are the regions where most of the recent convective activity of the planet has been observed. We use a 3D anelastic model with parameterized microphysics (Hueso and Sánchez-Lavega, 2001, Icarus 151, 257) studying the onset and evolution of water and ammonia moist convective storms up to sizes of a few hundred km. Water storms, while more difficult to initiate than in Jupiter, can be very energetic, arriving to the 150 mbar level and developing vertical velocities on the order of 150 m s−1. Ammonia storms develop easier but with a much smaller intensity unless very large abundances of ammonia (10 times solar) are present in Saturn's atmosphere. The Coriolis forces play a major role in the morphology and properties of water based storms.  相似文献   

12.
In this work we analyze and compare the vertical cloud structure of Saturn's Equatorial Zone in two different epochs: the first one close to the Voyagers flybys (1979-1981) and the second one in 2004, when the Cassini spacecraft entered its orbit around the planet. Our goal is to retrieve the altitude of cloud features used as zonal wind tracers in both epochs. We reanalyze three different sets of photometrically calibrated published data: ground-based in 1979, Voyager 2 PPS and ISS observations in 1981, and we analyze a new set of Hubble Space Telescope images for 2004. For all situations we reproduced the observed reflectivity by means of a similar vertical model with three layers. The results indicate the presence of a changing tropospheric haze in 1979-1981 (Ptop∼100 mbar, τ∼10) and in 2004 (Ptop∼50 mbar, τ∼15) where the tracers are embedded. According to this model the Voyager 2 ISS images locate cloud tracers moving with zonal velocities of 455 to 465 (±2) m/s at a pressure level of 360 ± 140 mbar. For HST observations, our previous works had showed cloud tracers moving with zonal wind speeds of 280±10 m/s at a pressure level of about 50±10 mbar. All these values are calculated in the same region (3°±2° N). This speed difference, if interpreted as a vertical wind shear, requires a change of per scale height, two times greater than that estimated from temperature observations. We also perform an initial guess on Cassini ISS vertical sounding levels, retrieving values compatible with HST ones and Cassini CIRS derived vertical wind shear, but not with Voyager wind measurements. We conclude that the wind speed velocity differences measured between 1979-1981 and 2004 cannot be explained as a wind shear effect alone and demand dynamical processes.  相似文献   

13.
A series of narrow-band images of Saturn was acquired on 7-11 February 2002 with an acousto-optic imaging spectrometer (AImS) at about 160 wavelengths between 500 and 950 nm. Our unique data set with high spectral agility and wide spectral coverage enabled us to extensively study the cloud structure and aerosol properties of Saturn's equatorial region at −10° latitude. Theoretical center-limb profiles based on twelve cloud models were fit to the observations at 23 wavelengths across the 619-, 727-, and 890-nm methane bands. A simultaneous multiwavelength multivariable fitting algorithm was adopted in varying up to 9 free parameters to efficiently explore the vast multidimensional parameter space, and a total of ∼12,000 initial conditions were tested. From the acceptable ranges of the model parameters, we obtained the following major conclusions: (1) the brightening of Saturn's equatorial region observed near 890 nm in February 2002 (I/F∼0.25 at the central meridian) results from high altitudes of a stratospheric haze layer (τ?∼0.05 above ∼0.04-bar level) and an upper tropospheric cloud (τ∼6 above ∼0.25-bar level), (2) if the upper tropospheric cloud is composed of ammonia ice particles and the Mie theory is applied, the mean particle size is larger than about 0.5 μm, (3) an optically thick cloud layer exists at a level of 0.5-2.2 bar below the upper cloud deck in Saturn's equatorial region. The ongoing observations by the Cassini spacecraft over wider spectral range and from various phase angles will further constrain Saturn's cloud structure and aerosol properties.  相似文献   

14.
R. de Kok  P.G.J. Irwin 《Icarus》2010,209(2):854-857
We use Cassini far-infrared limb and nadir spectra, together with recent Huygens results, to shed new light on the controversial far-infrared opacity sources in Titan’s troposphere. Although a global cloud of large CH4 ice particles around an altitude of 30 km, together with an increase in tropospheric haze opacity with respect to the stratosphere, can fit nadir and limb spectra well, this cloud does not seem consistent with shortwave measurements of Titan. Instead, the N2-CH4 collision-induced absorption coefficients are probably underestimated by at least 50% for low temperatures.  相似文献   

15.
Five years of thermal infrared spectra from the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) are analyzed to determine the response of Saturn’s atmosphere to seasonal changes in insolation. Hemispheric mapping sequences at 15.0 cm−1 spectral resolution are used to retrieve the variation in the zonal mean temperatures in the stratosphere (0.5-5.0 mbar) and upper troposphere (75-800 mbar) between October 2004 (shortly after the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere) and July 2009 (shortly before the autumnal equinox).Saturn’s northern mid-latitudes show signs of dramatic warming in the stratosphere (by 6-10 K) as they emerge from ring-shadow into springtime conditions, whereas southern mid-latitudes show evidence for cooling (4-6 K). The 40-K asymmetry in stratospheric temperatures between northern and southern hemispheres (at 1 mbar) slowly decreased during the timespan of the observations. Tropospheric temperatures also show temporal variations but with a smaller range, consistent with the increasing radiative time constant of the atmospheric response with increasing pressure. The tropospheric response to the insolation changes shows the largest magnitude at the locations of the broad retrograde jets. Saturn’s warm south-polar stratospheric hood has cooled over the course of the mission, but remains present.Stratospheric temperatures are compared to a radiative climate model which accounts for the spatial distribution of the stratospheric coolants. The model successfully predicts the magnitude and morphology of the observed changes at most latitudes. However, the model fails at locations where strong dynamical perturbations dominate the temporal changes in the thermal field, such as the hot polar vortices and the equatorial semi-annual oscillation (Orton, G., and 27 colleagues [2008]. Nature 453, 196-198). Furthermore, observed temperatures in Saturn’s ring-shadowed regions are larger than predicted by all radiative-climate models to date due to the incomplete characterization of the dynamical response to the shadow. Finally, far-infrared CIRS spectra are used to demonstrate variability of the para-hydrogen distribution over the 5-year span of the dataset, which may be related to observed changes in Saturn’s tropospheric haze in the spring hemisphere.  相似文献   

16.
We obtained spatially-resolved ultraviolet spectra of Saturn in 1994 with the Faint Object Spectrometer and Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph of the Hubble Space Telescope. We observed four areas on the planet at 15° N, 33° S, 41° S, and 52° S, with a field-of-view of less than 2 × 2 arcsec2, compared to the 16-arcsec planet diameter. The wavelength range, 1550-2300 Å, encompasses absorption from major hydrocarbons (C2H6, C2H4, C2H2, CH3C2H, C4H2) and water. We find global hydrocarbon abundances and a C2H2 vertical distribution compatible with infrared observations, in contrast with previous analyses of ultraviolet spectra. The stratospheric haze opacity decreases from polar region to the equator. Saturn mid-latitudes are photochemically distinct from the rest of the planet. At 33° S, the spectrum requires either (1) a distinctly different C2H2 vertical distribution or (2) a locally enhanced water abundance. At 41° S, the hydrocarbon abundance exhibits a local minimum, within a global trend of increasing abundance from equator to pole. This global trend may result from an increased abundance of short-lived hydrocarbons such as C4H2. Photochemical models predict a depletion of hydrocarbon molecules in the presence of stratospheric water [Moses et al., 2000. Icarus 143, 166-202]. These results are consistent with a localized influx of water, in the form of high charge to mass ratio particles, flowing into Saturn's atmosphere at latitudes magnetically linked to the rings.  相似文献   

17.
We have analyzed the continuum emission of limb spectra acquired by the Cassini/CIRS infrared spectrometer in order to derive information on haze extinction in the 3–0.02 mbar range (∼150–350 km). We focused on the 600–1420 cm−1 spectral range and studied nine different limb observations acquired during the Cassini nominal mission at 55°S, 20°S, 5°N, 30°N, 40°N, 45°N, 55°N, 70°N and 80°N. By means of an inversion algorithm solving the radiative transfer equation, we derived the vertical profiles of haze extinction coefficients from 17 spectral ranges of 20-cm−1 wide at each of the nine latitudes. At a given latitude, all extinction vertical profiles retrieved from various spectral intervals between 600 and 1120 cm−1 display similar vertical slopes implying similar spectral characteristics of the material at all altitudes. We calculated a mean vertical extinction profile for each latitude and derived the ratio of the haze scale height (Hhaze) to the pressure scale height (Hgas) as a function of altitude. We inferred Hhaze/Hgas values varying from 0.8 to 2.4. The aerosol scale height varies with altitude and also with latitude. Overall, the haze extinction does not show strong latitudinal variations but, at 1 mbar, an increase by a factor of 1.5 is observed at the north pole compared to high southern latitudes. The vertical optical depths at 0.5 and 1.7 mbar increase from 55°S to 5°N, remain constant between 5°N and 30°N and display little variation at higher latitudes, except the presence of a slight local maximum at 45°N. The spectral dependence of the haze vertical optical depth is uniform with latitude and displays three main spectral features centered at 630 cm−1, 745 cm−1 and 1390 cm−1, the latter showing a wide tail extending down to ∼1000 cm−1. From 600 to 750 cm−1, the optical depth increases by a factor of 3 in contrast with the absorbance of laboratory tholins, which is generally constant. We derived the mass mixing ratio profiles of haze at the nine latitudes. Below the 0.4-mbar level all mass mixing ratio profiles increase with height. Above this pressure level, the profiles at 40°N, 45°N, 55°N, at the edge of the polar vortex, display a decrease-with-height whereas the other profiles increase. The global increase with height of the haze mass mixing ratio suggest a source at high altitudes and a sink at low altitudes. An enrichment of haze is observed at 0.1 mbar around the equator, which could be due to a more efficient photochemistry because of the strongest insolation there or an accumulation of haze due to a balance between sedimentation and upward vertical drag.  相似文献   

18.
Five years of Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem images, from 2004 to 2009, are analyzed in this work to retrieve global zonal wind profiles of Saturn’s northern and southern hemispheres in the methane absorbing bands at 890 and 727 nm and in their respective adjacent continuum wavelengths of 939 and 752 nm. A complete view of Saturn’s global circulation, including the equator, at two pressure levels, in the tropopause (60 mbar to 250 mbar with the MT filters) and in the upper troposphere (from ∼350 mbar to ∼500 mbar with the CB filter set), is presented. Both zonal wind profiles (available at the Supplementary Material Section), show the same structure but with significant differences in the peak of the eastward jets and the equatorial region, including a region of positive vertical shear symmetrically located around the equator between the 10° < |φc| < 25° where zonal velocities close to the tropopause are higher than at 500 mbar. A comparison of previously published zonal wind sets obtained by Voyager 1 and 2 (1980-1981), Hubble Space Telescope, and ground-based telescopes (1990-2004) with the present Cassini profiles (2004-2009) covering a full Saturn year shows that the shape of the zonal wind profile and intensity of the jets has remained almost unchanged except at the equator, despite the seasonal insolation cycle and the variability of Saturn’s emitted power. The major wind changes occurred at equatorial latitudes, perhaps following the Great White Spot eruption in 1990. It is not evident from our study if the seasonal insolation cycle and its associated ring shadowing influence the equatorial circulation at cloud level.  相似文献   

19.
The Composite Infrared Radiometer-Spectrometer (CIRS) instrument, on the NASA Cassini Saturn orbiter, has been acquiring thermal emission spectra from the atmosphere of Titan since orbit insertion in 2004. Observation sequences for measuring stratospheric temperatures have been obtained using both a nadir mapping mode and a limb viewing mode. The limb observations give better vertical resolution, and give information from higher altitudes, while the nadir observations provide more complete longitude coverage. Because the scale height of Titan's atmosphere is large enough so that emission from a grazing ray is influenced by horizontal temperature variations in the atmosphere, we have developed a two-dimensional temperature retrieval algorithm for reducing the limb spectra, which solves simultaneously for meridional and vertical temperature variations. The analyzed nadir mapping data have sampled nearly all longitudes at latitudes from about 90° S to 60° N, providing temperatures between pressure levels of about 5 to 0.2 mbar. The limb data covers latitudes between about 75° S and 85° N, and yields temperatures between about 1 and 0.005 mbar, at a small number of longitudes. The retrieved temperatures are consistent with early results from nadir observations [Flasar, F.M., and 44 colleagues, 2005. Science 308, 975-978] between 0.5 and 5 mbar where both results are valid, with the warmest temperatures at the equator, and much stronger meridional temperature gradients in the northern (winter) hemisphere than in the southern. At higher altitudes not probed by nadir viewing, the limb data reveal that the stratopause is nearly 20 K warmer in the northern polar regions than at the equator and southern hemisphere, and that the altitude of the stratopause shifts from ≈0.1 mbar (300 km) near the equator to 0.01 mbar (400 km) poleward of about 40° N. When the gradient wind equation is used to construct a zonal mean wind, the reversal in sign of the temperature leads to capping of the winter westerly flow. The core of the resulting jet is about 190 m s−1 in magnitude, spans between 30° N and 60° N, and peaks near 0.1 mbar. Estimates of the radiative heating associated with the radiative disequilibrium lead to a meridional overturning timescale of about three Earth years.  相似文献   

20.
Close to 2000 laboratory measurements of the microwave opacity and refractivity of gaseous NH3 in an H2/He atmosphere have been conducted in the 1.1-20 cm wavelength range (1.5-27 GHz) at pressures from 30 mbar to 12 bar and at temperatures from 184 to 450 K. The mole fraction of NH3 ranged from 0.06 to 6% with some additional measurements of pure NH3. The high accuracy of these results have enabled development of a new model for the opacity of NH3 in a H2/He atmosphere under jovian conditions. The model employs the Ben-Reuven lineshape applied to the published inversion line center frequencies and intensities of NH3 (JPL Catalog—[Pickett, H.M., Poynter, R.L., Cohen, E.A., Delitsky, M.L., Pearson, J.C., Müller, H.S.P., 1998. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Trans. 60, 883-890]) with empirically-fitted line parameters for H2 and He broadening, and for the self-broadening of some previously unmeasured ammonia inversion lines. The new model for ammonia opacity will provide reliable results for temperatures from 150 to 500 K, at pressures up to 50 bar and at frequencies up to 40 GHz. These results directly impact the retrieval of jovian atmospheric constituent abundances from the Galileo Probe radio signal absorption measurements, from microwave emission measurements conducted with Earth-based radio telescopes and with the future NASA Juno mission, and studies of Saturn's atmosphere conducted with the Cassini Radio Science Experiment and the Cassini RADAR 2.1 cm passive radiometer.  相似文献   

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