Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.2714n&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #27.14; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.529
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
1
Scientific paper
New observations of Titan by the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) on-board Cassini are poised to clarify the role of water in the atmospheric oxygen chemistry. Water has remained difficult to study since its first detection by the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) (Coustenis et. al. 1998, A&A, Vol. 336, L85-L89) at a level of 8x10-9 to 4x10-10, depending on the vertical profile gradient assumed in the stratosphere. CIRS has two key advantages over ISO: (i) the ability to make spatially resolved measurements and (ii) an improved sensitivity through longer time durations of observation. New spectra are presented from the CIRS far-infrared detector, which has a spatial resolution of 3.9 mrad and a spectral range of 10-600 cm-1 in the far-infrared. In addition to measuring the lines seen by ISO at 228 and 254 cm-1, we have been able to detect water at 170, 203 and 208 cm-1. Preliminary analysis of globally averaged data indicates agreement with the ISO abundance. Using 5000 spectra at the highest CIRS spectral resolution of 0.5 cm-1 we have also been able to track for the first time the variation in emission from south to north, with a maximum signal-to-noise of 5 in the 203 cm-1. All lines show latitude variation in emission, and current work is focused on accounting for temperature and emission angle effects so that the meridional abundance of water can be determined.
Coustenis Athena
de Kok Remco
Flasar Michael F.
Jennings Donald E.
Nixon Conor A.
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