Computer Science – Sound
Scientific paper
Sep 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.3204t&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #32.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.543
Computer Science
Sound
Scientific paper
The vertical profiles of nitrile compounds including HCN and HC3N were derived from mid-infrared observations taken with the Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS) on board the Cassini orbiter.
Nitrile compounds are created by photochemical reactions and have lifetimes ranging from under a year to tens of years - of the same order as a Titan year. Therefore, abundance variations can be used to probe atmospheric motion.
We used the limb sounding capabilities of CIRS to retrieve vertical profiles of HCN and HC3N from 85S to 85N. First, the segment of the mid-IR spectrum from 1240-1360cm-1 was used to retrieve temperature. Second, sub-spectra were extracted from the 600-750cm-1 region and used to obtain vertical profiles of nitriles. The limiting vertical resolution of these profiles is determined by the field-of-view size at the tangent height, which varied between 10 and 50km.
Both high (0.5cm-1) and low (13.5cm-1) spectral resolution data were used to derive the abundance profiles. The high resolution data was more precise, but only covered a few discrete latitudes, whereas the low resolution data covered almost the entire limb from north- to south-pole, but required verification by comparison with the high resolution data.
HC3N was massively enriched near the north pole, which can be explained in terms of subsidence. A boundary observed at 60N between enriched and un-enriched air is consistent with a confining polar vortex at 60N and HC3N's short lifetime.
HCN was also enriched over the north pole, which gives further evidence for subsidence. However, the atmospheric cross section obtained from 13.5cm-1 data indicated a HCN enriched layer at 200-250km, extending into the southern hemisphere. This could be interpreted as advection of polar enriched air towards the south by a meridional circulation cell. This is observed for HCN but not for HC3N due to HCN's longer photochemical lifetime.
Bezard Bruno
Bowles Neil E.
Calcutt Simon B.
de Kok Remco
Flasar Michael
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