NRAO/Socorro Colloquium Series

Brigette Hesman

NRAO


Saturn's Stratospheric Acetylene and Ethane Emission


Hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere of Saturn are known, from Voyager and early Cassini results, to vary in emission intensity with latitude. Of particular interest is the marked increase in temperature and hydrocarbon line intensity near the South Pole (which is currently in summer) as the increased line intensity cannot be simply explained by the increased temperatures observed in that region. Latitudinal variations in hydrocarbon abundances can be determined from measurements of hydrocarbon emission lines using temperatures derived from Cassini’s Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS). Latitudinal, temporal, and vertical variations of stratospheric hydrocarbons provide constraints on dynamics, seasonal climate models, and photochemical models. In an effort to monitor temporal and latitudinal variations of hydrocarbons in Saturn’s southern hemisphere we are conducting a ground-based campaign using Celeste, an infrared (5-25 µm) high-resolution (<0.1 cm -1) cryogenic grating spectrometer. From 2005 to 2007, we have been mapping lines of ethane and acetylene at the McMath-Pierce telescope at Kitt Peak, AZ and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility at Mauna Kea, HI. These observations are complemented by the Cassini CIRS hydrocarbon observations. Specifically, Celeste measurements at the IRTF in October 2006 are being combined with 3cm-1 spectral resolution CIRS measurements to infer molecular abundances for each species in the 1-10 mbar altitude region across the southern hemisphere of Saturn. These results will be presented.






January 25, 2008
11:00 AM

Array Operations Center Auditorium

All NRAO employees are invited to attend via video, available in Charlottesville Room 230, Green Bank Room 137 and Tucson N525.

Local Host: Bryan Butler