Jupiter's Great Red Spot: Cloud Chemistry and Chromophore Formation

Details Jupiter's Great Red Spot: Cloud Chemistry and Chromophore Formation Jupiter's Great Red Spot: Cloud Chemistry and Chromophore Formation

Oct 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.1904d&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #19.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.444

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Scientific paper

The colorful appearance of Jupiter is due to chromophores in the clouds created by chemical reactions occurring at different altitudes. Chromophores are naturally colored compounds that have absorptions in the visible or UV. Many sulfur-containing molecules, such as the sulfur allotropes, S8, and other forms of elemental sulfur, Sn, are often brightly colored materials and are likely contributors to the spectacular colors in the Great Red Spot (GRS).
The dynamic meteorology in the GRS causes chemical reactions to occur that create the deep reddish-orange hues and fine textures in this atmospheric feature. Sulfur compounds, such as the source material, ammonium hydrosulfide, NH4SH, are transported upwards towards the cloud tops (at 300 mb) in powerful upwellings within the anticyclonic Great Red Spot and then subjected to UV photolysis which creates new sulfur species (Baines et al 2004). NH4SH ice is photolyzed by <3000 A UV radiation back into its parent constituents, NH3 and H2S. H2S is dissociated by UV into S and HS, which can react to form larger sulfurous molecules, such as Sn or sulfanes, such as H2S2. These molecules are often shades of yellow or orange and typically have UV absorptions reminiscent of the UV-absorbing characteristics of the GRS.
Alternatively, UV photolysis can knock off individual hydrogen atoms from NH4SH, leading to ammonium polysulfides (NH4)2Sx or other solid materials with yellowish, orange, reddish or brown characteristics. If H2S released by NH4SH photolysis at the cloud tops locally exceeds 6 times its solar abundance, then H2S may condense out into solid particles. Chemistry in solid phase H2S is possible and the cage effect will yield additional products over those in the gas phase. Estimates of the production rate of HS and chromophore sulfur compounds in the GRS will be presented.
Ref: Baines, et al, B.A.A.S. 36, 1133 (2004)

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