Latitudinal Variations of Saturn's Near-Infrared Spectrum

Details Latitudinal Variations of Saturn's Near-Infrared Spectrum Latitudinal Variations of Saturn's Near-Infrared Spectrum

Dec 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005agufm.p11c0135c&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2005, abstract #P11C-0135

Physics

5704 Atmospheres (0343, 1060), 6275 Saturn

Scientific paper

Near-infrared spectra of Saturn were acquired at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility using SpeX on 06-09 January 2002 and 12-13 February 2004. Using the long wavelength cross-dispersed mode, spectra between 2.7-5.5 microns were recorded simultaneously at a spectral resolution R ~ 2000. These data were acquired in support of Cassini observations of Saturn; the spectral coverage of the ground-based data overlaps that of Cassini's Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS), and complements the high phase angle spacecraft data taken by both VIMS and Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrograph (CIRS) contemporaneously with the ground-based data. With the slit of the spectrograph aligned parallel to Saturn's rotation axis, spectra were extracted for different latitude bands on Saturn to enable a comparison of the trace species mixing ratios as a function of latitude. Phosphine (PH3) is a disequilibrium species, thus any spatial variation in PH3 may be linked to variations in upwelling from the deep atmosphere, whereas variations in ammonia would be associated with spatial variations in cloud formation. Synthetic infrared spectra were generated for comparison with the observational data using the Synthetic Spectrum Program, which was developed at NASA/GSFC. We compare observed and modeled spectra in an effort to characterize any spatial variations in Saturn's trace constituents, which could be indicative of localized or regional dynamical processes. We vary the mixing ratios of ammonia and phosphine, as well as the pressure level boundaries of the absorbing region. Our exploration of this parameter space will be discussed. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation.

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