Ground Based Maps of Acetylene and Ethane Emission in Jupiter's Atmosphere at the Time of the Cassini Encounter

Details Ground Based Maps of Acetylene and Ethane Emission in Jupiter's Atmosphere at the Time of the Cassini Encounter Ground Based Maps of Acetylene and Ethane Emission in Jupiter's Atmosphere at the Time of the Cassini Encounter

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.3906s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #39.06

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Cassini's flyby of Jupiter in 2000-2001 provided a unique opportunity to coordinate Earth-based and spacecraft observations of that planet. In particular, the Composite Infrared Spectrometer, CIRS, mapped Jupiter globally at 600-1400 cm-1 during early January 2001. The spectra produced by CIRS covered spectral emission features due to several hydrocarbons with spatial coverage and resolution not previously achieved in the mid-infrared, together with moderate 2.17 cm-1 spectral resolution. We carried out ground based observations that recorded jovian maps of specific emission features of C2H2 (ν5 R(5) line at 743.2 cm-1) and C2H6 (ν9 RQ0 branch at 822.3 cm-1) at high spectral resolution during late January 2001, shortly after Cassini's closest approach. We used the large echelle cryogenic spectrometer Celeste, developed at Goddard Space Flight Center, at the McMath-Pierce telescope at Kitt Peak. These ground-based maps covered most of the globe with a spatial resolution about half that of CIRS and with superior spectral resolution. We have reduced and modeled the observed spectral emission intensities and from these we have derived meridional hydrocarbon abundance variations and global maps which we can compare with coeval CIRS observations. Our results show that ethane is enhanced in emission in the northern hemisphere mainly due to higher atmospheric temperatures. Its meridional abundance profile shows only slight enhancement in the northern hemisphere and a decrease of a factor of two towards the poles. Acetylene also shows a greater northern hemisphere temperature-induced emission. Its meridional abundance profile is also slightly enhanced in the northern hemisphere and also decreases towards the poles, but by a factor of three. In both hydrocarbons the north polar "hot spot” is evident as a localized emission enhancement, with acetylene being more sensitive to its presence.

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