Methane Absorption Coefficients for the Jovian Planets and Titan

Details Methane Absorption Coefficients for the Jovian Planets and Titan Methane Absorption Coefficients for the Jovian Planets and Titan

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.1011k&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #10.11

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Scientific paper

We combined 11 data sets of methane transmission measurements within 0.4-5.5 micrometer wavelength in order to better understand the variation of methane absorption with temperature and pressure for conditions in the atmospheres of the Jovian planets and Titan.
Eight data sets are based on published laboratory measurements. Another two data sets come from two spectrometers onboard the Huygens probe that measured methane absorption inside Titan's atmosphere (Tomasko et al. 2008, PSS 56, 624). We present the data with a refined analysis. The last data set consists of Hubble Space Telescope images of Jupiter taken in 2005 and 2007 as Ganymede started to be occulted by Jupiter. Using Ganymede as a light source, we probed Jupiter's stratosphere with large methane pathlengths.
Below 1000 nm wavelength, we find methane absorption coefficients generally similar to those by Karkoschka (1998, Icarus 133, 134). We added descriptions of temperature and pressure dependence, which are typically small in this wavelength range. Data in this wavelength range are consistent with each other, except between 882 and 902 nm wavelength where laboratory data predict larger absorptions in the Jovian atmospheres than observed. We present possible explanations.
Above 1000 nm, our analysis of the Huygens data confirms methane absorption coefficients by Irwin et al. (2006, Icarus 181, 309) at their laboratory temperatures. Huygens data are consistent with Irwin's model of the pressure dependence of methane absorption. However, when large extrapolations were needed, such as from laboratory data above 200 K to Titan's temperatures near 80 K, Irwin's model of temperature dependence predicts absorption coefficients up to 100 times lower than measured by Huygens. We combined Irwin's and Huygens' data to obtain more reliable methane absorption coefficients for the temperatures in the atmospheres of the Jovian planets and Titan.
This research was supported by NASA grants NAG5-12014 and NNX08AE74G.

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