Evidence for a mesosphere on Saturn and the seasonal variation of temperature between 2002 and 2004 in Saturn's southern hemisphere.

Details Evidence for a mesosphere on Saturn and the seasonal variation of temperature between 2002 and 2004 in Saturn's southern hemisphere. Evidence for a mesosphere on Saturn and the seasonal variation of temperature between 2002 and 2004 in Saturn's southern hemisphere.

Aug 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005dps....37.2003g&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #37, #20.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 37, p.657

Other

1

Scientific paper

Ground based high-resolution spectral observations of CH4 emission features taken at the NASA IRTF using the TEXES spectrometer on September 13th 2002 and October 14th and 15th 2004, LS of 268.4o and 296.8o respectively, are presented. These data, taken along Saturn's central meridian, are sensitive to the stratospheric temperature between 10 and 0.01 mbar. The 1245 cm-1 observations taken on October 15th 2004 show distinct self-absorption cores on top of the strong CH4 emission lines. These features indicate that there is a region overlaying the stratosphere which is cooler than the stratopause, ie. a mesosphere. This explanation is supported by detailed line-by-line radiative transfer modeling of the 2004 data.
A comparison of the 2002 and 2004 stratospheric temperature retrievals shows an enhancement of the 3 mbar thermal gradient between the equator and south pole. A 10 K increase of temperature between the equator and south pole at the 3 mbar level in 2002 has been described in Greathouse etal. 2005. By modeling the 2004 data, we infer that the equator to pole trend has increased to 15 K. These results suggest that the phase lag in the thermal response of Saturn's stratosphere is shorter than predicted by the seasonal climate model of Bézard and Gautier 1985. However, the magnitude of the equator to pole temperature variation is still within their predicted range.
The collection of multiple spectral intervals containing CH4 emission lines during the 2004 observing run allows us to test our temperature retrieval methods, their dependence on initial guesses, and the altitude sensitivity of various spectral regions. We will discuss the level of certainty in our temperature derivations, and ways that other observations may be used to further decrease our uncertainties.
This work has been funded through the Lunar and Planetary Institute, NASA CAN-NCC5-679.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Evidence for a mesosphere on Saturn and the seasonal variation of temperature between 2002 and 2004 in Saturn's southern hemisphere. does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Evidence for a mesosphere on Saturn and the seasonal variation of temperature between 2002 and 2004 in Saturn's southern hemisphere., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Evidence for a mesosphere on Saturn and the seasonal variation of temperature between 2002 and 2004 in Saturn's southern hemisphere. will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-951146