Is C2H2 Present Deep in the Jovian Atmosphere?

Details Is C2H2 Present Deep in the Jovian Atmosphere? Is C2H2 Present Deep in the Jovian Atmosphere?

Sep 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998dps....30.3006b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #30, #30.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 30, p.1067

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

On Jupiter, acetylene (C2H2) is widely accepted to be produced predominantly by methane photolysis by UV photons and hence should be found high in its stratosphere. Moreover, observations indicate that the C2H2 abundance decreases rapidly with increasing pressure throughout the stratosphere. However, spectroscopic observations conducted by HST's Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) suggest that C2H2 is present in significant abundance in the upper troposphere. The FOS spectra exhibit C2H2 features shortward of 190.0 nm that are consistent with C2H2 located in the upper stratosphere above 50 mbar. Also detected are pronounced C2H2 features overlapping with ammonia (NH3) features longward of 200.0 nm. Using a radiative transfer model that incorporates Raman scattering by molecular hydrogen reveals that these features can only be explained with a C2H2 mixing ratio of 1 x 10(-7) or more below the 150 mbar level. Either the C2H2 in this region is produced through some unknown chemical cycle or it is convecting from deeper regions of the atmosphere. Although the latter is less probable on thermodynamical grounds, since the available C2H2 cross section cuts off longward of 210.0 nm, it is difficult to say if C2H2 is present at the 350 mbar level or deeper and hence distinguish between the two possibilies.

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