Infrared and Microwave Observations of Uranus: Implications for Temperature, Composition, Circulation and a Standard Calibration Model for Herschel

Details Infrared and Microwave Observations of Uranus: Implications for Temperature, Composition, Circulation and a Standard Calibration Model for Herschel Infrared and Microwave Observations of Uranus: Implications for Temperature, Composition, Circulation and a Standard Calibration Model for Herschel

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.2803h&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #28.03

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The Spitzer Infrared Spectrometer observed Uranus in December 2007 between 5 and 21.5 microns. Disk-averaged temperatures are retrieved between 2 bars and the microbar level, yielding a profile warmer than found by Voyager 2. A substantial rise in temperature near 8 microbars is also found - consistent with Voyager results. The methane mixing ratio, constrained by 7-micron emission, is between 5% and 60% of saturation at the Tropopause. The presence of both absorption and emission by CH4 and CH3D will allow us to constrain the D/H ratio and the mixing ratio of methane in the 2-bar region. The abundance of stratospheric hydrocarbons varies strongly with longitude, while temperature does not. Minimal longitudinal and latitudinal variability of tropospheric temperatures indicates that Uranus may be adequate as a calibration source in the far-infrared through the submillimeter, which is useful to the Herschel Space Telescope. Strong latitudinal gradients in composition, however, as revealed by imaging at 1 mm to 20 cm, do need to be accounted for. The Submillimeter Array imaged Uranus in 2006 at 1.4 mm, and the Very Large Array imaged Uranus between 2005 and 2009 at wavelengths from 7 mm to 20 cm. These data indicate there is a latitudinally varying abundance of a microwave absorber near the 1-bar level, with H2S being a likely candidate. The disk-averaged IR data confirms the presence of an opacity source besides that of H2 in this altitude region. The VLA data also imply an unexpected vertical distribution of opacity at pressures of tens-of-bars in the equatorial region, believed to be related to the liquid-water cloud. Much of this work was carried out at JPL/Caltech, under contract with NASA. We acknowledge the support of NASA's Planetary Astronomy and Atmospheres programs, and the Spitzer, SMA, VLA, and VLT observatories.

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