DPS Pasadena Meeting 2000, 23-27 October 2000
Session 12. Outer Planets Posters II - Chemistry, Thermal, Structure and Magnetospheres
Displayed, 1:00pm, Monday - 1:00pm, Friday, Highlighted Tuesday and Thursday, 3:30-6:30pm, C101-C105, C211

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[12.14] Mid-IR Observations of Ethylene on Jupiter

P. V. Sada (Universidad de Monterrey, Mexico), P. N. Romani, D. E. Jennings, G. L. Bjoraker (NASA/GSFC), R. Boyle (Dickinson College), G. McCabe (Ratheon STX and NASA/GSFC)

Ethylene is an important species to our understanding of hydrocarbon photochemistry in the atmospheres of the giant planets. It also provides a sensitive probe of conditions at the 10-microbar level in Jupiter's atmosphere, a region that is strongly influenced by aurora.

We performed high-resolution (\lambda/\Delta\lambda ~ 2,000) spectral observations of C2H4 at 10.53 microns (949.5 cm-1) on Jupiter during June 2000 using Celeste, a Goddard-developed cryogenic echelle spectrometer, in conjunction with the 3.0-m IRTF at Mt. Kea in Hawai'i. Temperature-enhanced ethylene line emission was observed over aurora latitudes, particularly over the northern hemisphere "hot spot" longitude (LIII ~ 180o).

We will present preliminary models for these observations using variations in the pressure-temperature profile, altitude-dependent hydrocarbon mixing ratios derived from recent photochemical models, and updated C2H4 line positions and strengths.

This work is supported by the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program.


The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: psada@ix.netcom.com


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