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B.P. Michael (NASA-NRC/GSFC), J.E. Allen Jr. (NASA/GSFC)
Energy transfer rates at low temperatures are important parameters for models of planetary atmospheres. However, the data simply have not been available or do not extend to the low temperatures found in the atmospheres of many of the planets and their satellites. Because methane plays an especially important role in the Jovian atmosphere, we have recently extended the data of Perrin and Jolicard (1986), to temperatures less than 100 K using the photoacoustic technique. Comparison of the data with results from the Landau-Teller approximation and the Schwartz, Slawsky and Herzfeld (SSH) theory show that these predictions can be in error by more than several orders of magnitude.
Perrin, M.Y. and Jolicard, G. 1986, {\em Chem Phys. Lett.} {\bf127}, 118.
{\em Support from NASA's Planetary Atmospheres Program through the National Research Council is gratefully acknowledged}.