Water on Jupiter inferred from Methane Spectra at 5.18 microns

Details Water on Jupiter inferred from Methane Spectra at 5.18 microns Water on Jupiter inferred from Methane Spectra at 5.18 microns

Sep 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998baas...30q1070b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #30, #30.P21; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 30, p.1070

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The CSHELL spectrometer at NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility was used in August and December 1996 to observe Jupiter at 5.18 microns. This wavelength sounds the 4-8 bar region in Jupiter's deep troposphere. The continuum level depends on the total cloud opacity above the 8-bar level, as is true of other parts of Jupiter's 5-micron window. The importance of this spectral region is due to a hot-band transition of CH_4. The strength of this absorption feature is sensitive to the abundance of H_2O vapor, the temperature of the line formation region, and the optical thickness of clouds in the 5 to 6-bar region. Radiative transfer models indicate that this CH_4 feature should be strong in dry, clear regions such as the Galileo Probe Entry Site. The CH_4 feature is predicted to be weak or absent in areas of Jupiter with saturated H_2O vapor, thick H_2O ice clouds, or both. Preliminary analysis of CSHELL data shows this line to be present in high-flux regions known from imaging studies as 5-micron hot spots. This allows us to extend the Galileo Probe in situ measurements of strongly subsaturated H_2O to other regions. Further analysis and substantial spatial averaging will be required to determine whether low or intermediate flux regions exhibit this CH_4 feature, implying subsaturated H_2O, or whether the feature is absent, which would provide spectroscopic evidence for Jupiter's elusive water clouds.

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