Modeling the disequilibrium species for Jupiter and Saturn: Implications for Juno and Saturn entry probe

Abstract

Disequilibrium species have been used previously to probe the deep water abundances and the eddy diffusion coefficient for giant planets. In this paper, we present a diffusion-kinetics code that predicts the abundances of disequilibrium species in the tropospheres of Jupiter and Saturn with updated thermodynamic and kinetic data. The dependence on the deep water abundance and the eddy diffusion coefficient is investigated. We quantified the disagreements in CO kinetics that comes from using different reaction networks and identified C$_2$H$_6$ as a useful tracer for the eddy diffusion coefficient. We first apply a H/P/O reaction network to Jupiter and Saturn's atmospheres and suggest a new PH$_3$ destruction pathway. New chemical pathways for SiH$_4$ and GeH$_4$ destruction are also suggested, and another AsH$_3$ destruction pathway is investigated thanks to new thermodynamic and kinetic data. These new models should enhance the interpretation of the measurement of disequilibrium species by JIRAM on board Juno and allow disentangling between methods for constraining the Saturn's deep water abundance with the Saturn entry probes envisaged by NASA or ESA.