Detection of Methyl Radical in Neptune's Atmosphere from ISO-SWS Observations

Details Detection of Methyl Radical in Neptune's Atmosphere from ISO-SWS Observations Detection of Methyl Radical in Neptune's Atmosphere from ISO-SWS Observations

Sep 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998dps....30.2702r&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #30, #27.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 30, p.1060

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We report the first detection of the methyl radical (CH_3) in the atmosphere of Neptune. Spectra were recorded on 12 November 1997 using the Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) of the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) in the grating mode. The spectral range 16.44-16.56 microns was observed during 50 minutes of integration at a resolving power of approximately 1500. The final spectrum shows prominent emission from the v_2 band of CH_3 centered at 16.497 microns with a signal-to-noise ratio of about 30. This emission feature can be reproduced with a CH_3 column density of about 2 x 10(13) molecules cm(-2) in the upper atmosphere. We then used the observations to constrain a one-dimensional hydrocarbon photochemical model. Model output, CH_3 mixing ratio vs. altitude, was used to generate synthetic spectra that were then compared to the observed spectrum. We will report on the model sensitivity to the assumed methane mixing ratio in the lower stratosphere, eddy mixing profiles, H flux from the ionosphere, and uncertainties in the photochemical reaction scheme - particularly the reactions CH_3 + CH_3 and CH_3 + H.

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