Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p33b1283m&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P33B-1283
Physics
[0320] Atmospheric Composition And Structure / Cloud Physics And Chemistry, [3311] Atmospheric Processes / Clouds And Aerosols, [5704] Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets / Atmospheres, [5709] Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets / Composition
Scientific paper
The Equilibrium Cloud Condensation Models (ECCM) predicts the vertical structure for multi-layer clouds in the troposphere on the giant planets (Lewis, 1969; Weidenschilling and Lewis, 1973; Atreya and Romani 1985). There is an unknown feature in the microwave absorption in the 3-5 bar region for Neptune and Uranus. Two different solutions have been proposed to explain this feature. In one solution, there is one layer of clouds causing this feature and the other there are two. In the one cloud solution, the feature may be due to a hydrogen sulfide ice-cloud (de Pater et al. 1991). However for H2S to be causing this feature, solar S/N, i.e. equal enrichment factors cannot be used. An H2S cloud can form when ammonia is substantially depleted in the deeper atmosphere. This may be the result of a water-ammonia ionic ocean forming at several hundred kilobar level in the deep interior (Atreya et al. 2005, 2006). Another possible solution is that the feature is caused due to a cloud layer made up of phosphine. Under appropriate conditions, cloud layers of both H2S and PH3 can exist between 2 and 8 bars. To get a more accurate picture of the clouds, microphysics is currently being added to the ECCM. 1. An Ocean of Water-Ammonia on Neptune and Uranus: Clues from Tropospheric Cloud Structure, S. K. Atreya, K. H. Baines, P. A. Egeler, Division of Planetary Sciences/AAS Meeting, Pasadena, California, October 2006. 2. Water-Ammonia Ionic Ocean on Uranus and Neptune - A Clue from Hydrogen Sulfide Clouds, S. K. Atreya, P. A. Egeler, A. S. Wong, American Geophysical Union Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 2005.
Atreya Sushil K.
Egeler-Dowd P.
Mihalka K.
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