DPS 2001 meeting, November 2001
Session 3. Cassini and Galileo at Jupiter I
Oral, Chairs: F. Bagenal, C. Porco, Tuesday, November 27, 2001, 11:10am-12:30pm, Regency E

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[3.06] Acetylene and Ethane distributions in the Jovian stratosphere from Cassini CIRS observations

C.A. Nixon (Univ. Md.), D.J. Jennings (NASA GSFC), P.G.J. Irwin, P.D. Parrish, T. Fouchet (Univ. Oxford), R.K. Achterberg (SSAI), A.A. Simon-Miller (NASA GSFC), CIRS Team

During the recent encounter of the Cassini spacecraft with Jupiter on 30th December 2000, the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) was used to map the planet from pole to pole at a spectral resolution of 3~cm-1, from 10 to 1400~cm-1.

This paper describes preliminary results from modelling of spectral data in the region 600--850~cm-1. This rich wavenumber range encompasses part of the S(1) hydrogen band, as well as features due to a variety of hydrocarbons (C2H2, C2H6, C6H6, C4H2, C3H4, CH3).

The vertical temperature profile and abundances of gaseous species in the stratosphere were simultaneously retrieved. The paper will focus on the meridional variations of acetylene and ethane, with an emphasis on the enhancements seen in the polar auroral regions.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: conor.a.nixon.1@gsfc.nasa.gov

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