Evidence For NH4SH As The Primary 3-micron Absorber In Jupiter's Clouds.

Details Evidence For NH4SH As The Primary 3-micron Absorber In Jupiter's Clouds. Evidence For NH4SH As The Primary 3-micron Absorber In Jupiter's Clouds.

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.3106s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #31.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1010

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

A prominent characteristic of Jovian near-IR spectra is the widely distributed presence of a strong absorption at 2.9-3.1 microns, first noticed in a 3-micron spectrum obtained by the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) in 1996. While Brooke et al. (1998, Icarus 136, 1-13) were able to fit the ISO spectrum using ammonia ice as the sole source of particulate absorption, Irwin et al. (2001, Icarus 149, 397-415) noted that their best-fit cloud model implied a strong absorption at 2 microns that was not observed in Galileo NIMS spectra. Subsequent significant revisions in ammonia gas absorption models (Bowles et al. 2008, Icarus 196, 612-614) also raised questions about the Brooke et al. results because ammonia gas absorption overlaps regions of ammonia ice absorption. Our reanalysis, based on improved ammonia absorption models, finds that the ISO spectrum can be fit much better with NH4SH as the sole 3-micron absorber than with NH3. But even better fits result from cloud models that include both NH3 ice and NH4SH, with the latter substance providing most of the absorption. The component due to NH3 is very possibly in the form of a coating on either large (r 15 microns) particles in a deeper layer at 550 mb or on small (r 0.3 micron) photochemical haze particles in a higher layer near 370 mb. Neither option conflicts with the lack of significant NH3 absorption features at thermal wavelengths. VIMS spectral fits (Sromovsky and Fry 2010, Icarus in press, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2010.06.039) are also compatible with NH4SH as the primary 3-micron absorber, and also benefit from the inclusion of a layer of small (r 0.3 micron) composite particles, with NH3 as a minor fraction, either as coating or core.
This work was supported by NASA Outer Planets Research Program, the Cassini Data Analysis program, and the Jupiter Data Analysis Program.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Evidence For NH4SH As The Primary 3-micron Absorber In Jupiter's Clouds. does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Evidence For NH4SH As The Primary 3-micron Absorber In Jupiter's Clouds., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Evidence For NH4SH As The Primary 3-micron Absorber In Jupiter's Clouds. will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1122937