A seasonal climate model of the atmospheres of the giant planets at the voyager encounter time: I. Saturn's stratosphere |
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| Authors: | Bruno Bézard Daniel Gautier |
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| Institution: | Laboratoire d''Astronomie Infrarouge, Observatoire de Meudon, 92195 Meudon Principal Cedex France |
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| Abstract: | A radiative seasonal model which incorporates a multilayer radiative transfer treatment at wave-lengths longward of 7 μm is presented and applied to Saturn's stratosphere. Opacities due to H2-He, CH4, C2H2, and C2H6 are included. Season-dependent insolation is shown to produce a strong hemispheric asymmetry decreasing with depth at the Voyager encounter times, and seasonal amplitudes of 30°K at the poles are predicted in the high stratosphere. The ring-modulated dependence of the insolation and the orbital eccentricity are shown to have a significant effect. Calculations agree closely with the Voyager 1 and 2 radio occultation ingress profiles recorded at 76°S and 36.5°S for CH4/H2 = 3.5 + 1.4/? 1.0 × 10?3;the estimated errors include modeling systematic errors and uncertainties in the occultations profiles. The possible role of aerosols in the stratospheric heating is analyzed. The Voyager 2 egress profile recorded at 31°S cannot be reproduced by calculations. Some constraints on the C2H2 and C2H6 abundances are derived. The upper portion of the occultation profiles (p < 3mbar) can be matched for C2H2/H2 = 1.0 + 1.3/?0.6 × 10?7, C2H6/H2 = 1.5 + 1.8/?0.9 × 10?6 at 76°S and C2H2/H2 = 4 + 6/?4 × 10?8, C2H6/H2 = 6 + 9/?6 × 10?7 at 36.5°N. At the northern occultation latitude, the discrepancy with the concentrations derived from analysis of IRIS spectra by R. Courtin, D. Gautier, A. Marten, B. Bézard, and R. Hanel (1984, Astrophys. J.287) can be explained by a sharp variation of the mixing ratios of these gases with altitude in the upper stratosphere. Other interpretations are discussed. |
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