arXiv subjects

Glenn S. Orton

Publications and source records attributed to Glenn S. Orton.

46 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Ammonia in Jupiter's troposphere from high-resolution 5-\textmu m spectroscopy

Jupiter's tropospheric ammonia (NH\textsubscript{3}) abundance is studied using spatially-resolved 5-\textmu m observations from CRIRES, a high resolution spectrometer at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The high resolving power (R=96,000) allows the line shapes of three NH\textsubscript{3} absorption features to be resolved. We find that within the 1--4 bar pressure range, the NH\textsubscript{3} abundance decreases with altitude. The instrument slit was aligned north-south along Jupiter's central meridian, allowing us to search for latitudinal variability. There is considerable uncertainty in the large-scale latitudinal variability, as the increase in cloud opacity in zones compared to belts can mask absorption features. However, we do find evidence for a strong NH\textsubscript{3} enhancement at 4--6$^{\circ}$N, consistent with a localised `ammonia plume' on the southern edge of Jupiter's North Equatorial Belt.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2016

Stratospheric aftermath of the 2010 Storm on Saturn as observed by the TEXES instrument. I. Temperature structure

We report on spectroscopic observations of Saturn's stratosphere in July 2011 with the Texas Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph (TEXES) mounted on the NASA InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF). The observations, targeting several lines of the CH$_4$ $ν_4$ band and the H$_2$ S(1) quadrupolar line, were designed to determine how Saturn's stratospheric thermal structure was disturbed by the 2010 Great White Spot. A study of Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) spectra had already shown the presence of a large stratospheric disturbance centered at a pressure of 2~hPa, nicknamed the beacon B0, and a tail of warm air at lower pressures (Fletcher et al. 2012. Icarus 221, 560--586). Our observations confirm that the beacon B0 vertical structure determined by CIRS, with a maximum temperature of $180\pm1$K at 2~hPa, is overlain by a temperature decrease up to the 0.2-hPa pressure level. Our retrieved maximum temperature of $180\pm1$K is colder than that derived by CIRS ($200\pm1$K), a difference that may be quantitatively explained by terrestrial atmospheric smearing. We propose a scenario for the formation of the beacon based on the saturation of gravity waves emitted by the GWS. Our observations also reveal that the tail is a planet-encircling disturbance in Saturn's upper stratosphere, oscillating between 0.2 and 0.02~hPa, showing a distinct wavenumber-2 pattern. We propose that this pattern in the upper stratosphere is either the signature of thermal tides generated by the presence of the warm beacon in the mid-stratosphere, or the signature of Rossby wave activity.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2015

Neptune's Dynamic Atmosphere from Kepler K2 Observations: Implications for Brown Dwarf Light Curve Analyses

Observations of Neptune with the Kepler Space Telescope yield a 49-day light curve with 98% coverage at a 1-minute cadence. A significant signature in the light curve comes from discrete cloud features. We compare results extracted from the light curve data with contemporaneous disk-resolved imaging of Neptune from the Keck 10-meter telescope at 1.65 microns and Hubble Space Telescope visible imaging acquired 9 months later. This direct comparison validates the feature latitudes assigned to the K2 light curve periods based on Neptune's zonal wind profile, and confirms observed cloud feature variability. Although Neptune's clouds vary in location and intensity on short and long time scales, a single large discrete storm seen in Keck imaging dominates the K2 and Hubble light curves; smaller or fainter clouds likely contribute to short-term brightness variability. The K2 Neptune light curve, in conjunction with our imaging data, provides context for the interpretation of current and future brown dwarf and extrasolar planet variability measurements. In particular we suggest that the balance between large, relatively stable, atmospheric features and smaller, more transient, clouds controls the character of substellar atmospheric variability. Atmospheres dominated by a few large spots may show inherently greater light curve stability than those which exhibit a greater number of smaller features.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2015

Spectral analysis of Uranus' 2014 bright storm with VLT/SINFONI

An extremely bright storm system observed in Uranus' atmosphere by amateur observers in September 2014 triggered an international campaign to observe this feature with many telescopes across the world. Observations of the storm system in the near infrared were acquired in October and November 2014 with SINFONI on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. SINFONI is an Integral Field Unit spectrometer returning 64x64 pixel images with 2048 wavelengths. Image cubes in the H-band (1.43 - 1.87 microns) were obtained at spatial resolutions of ~0.1". The observations show that the centre of the storm feature shifts markedly with increasing altitude, moving in the retrograde direction and slightly poleward with increasing altitude. We also see a faint 'tail' of more reflective material to the immediate south of the storm, which again trails in the retrograde direction. The observed spectra were analysed with the radiative transfer and retrieval code, NEMESIS. We find that the storm is well-modelled using either two main cloud layers of a 5-layer aerosol model based on Sromovsky et al. (2011) or by the simpler two-cloud-layer model of Tice et al. (2013). The deep component appears to be due to an increase in reflectivity and altitude of the main tropospheric cloud deck at 2 - 3 bars for both models, while the upper component of the feature was modelled as being due to either a thickening of the tropospheric haze of the 2-layer model or a vertical extension of the upper tropospheric cloud of the 5-layer model, assumed to be composed of methane ice and based at the methane condensation level at 1.23 bar. During the twelve days between our sets of observations the higher-altitude component of the feature was observed to have brightened significantly and extended to even higher altitudes, while the deeper component faded.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2015

Seasonal Variability of Saturn's Tropospheric Temperatures, Winds and Para-H$_2$ from Cassini Far-IR Spectroscopy

Far-IR 16-1000 $μ$m spectra of Saturn's hydrogen-helium continuum measured by Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) are inverted to construct a near-continuous record of upper tropospheric (70-700 mbar) temperatures and para-H$_2$ fraction as a function of latitude, pressure and time for a third of a Saturnian year (2004-2014, from northern winter to northern spring). The thermal field reveals evidence of reversing summertime asymmetries superimposed onto the belt/zone structure. The temperature structure that is almost symmetric about the equator by 2014, with seasonal lag times that increase with depth and are qualitatively consistent with radiative climate models. Localised heating of the tropospheric hazes (100-250 mbar) create a distinct perturbation to the temperature profile that shifts in magnitude and location, declining in the autumn hemisphere and growing in the spring. Changes in the para-H$_2$ ($f_p$) distribution are subtle, with a 0.02-0.03 rise over the spring hemisphere (200-500 mbar) perturbed by (i) low-$f_p$ air advected by both the springtime storm of 2010 and equatorial upwelling; and (ii) subsidence of high-$f_p$ air at northern high latitudes, responsible for a developing north-south asymmetry in $f_p$. Conversely, the shifting asymmetry in the para-H$_2$ disequilibrium primarily reflects the changing temperature structure (and the equilibrium distribution of $f_p$), rather than actual changes in $f_p$ induced by chemical conversion or transport. CIRS results interpolated to the same point in the seasonal cycle as re-analysed Voyager-1 observations show qualitative consistency, with the exception of the tropical tropopause near the equatorial zones and belts, where downward propagation of a cool temperature anomaly associated with Saturn's stratospheric oscillation could potentially perturb tropopause temperatures, para-H$_2$ and winds. [ABRIDGED]

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2014

Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy of Uranus from the Spitzer Infrared Spectrometer: 1. Determination of the Mean Temperature Structure of the Upper Troposphere and Stratosphere

On 2007 December 16-17, spectra were acquired of the disk of Uranus by the Spitzer Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) when its equator was close to the sub-earth point. This spectrum provides the highest-resolution broad-band spectrum ever obtained for Uranus from space, allowing a determination of the disk-averaged temperature and molecule composition to a greater degree of accuracy than ever before. The temperature profiles derived from the Voyager radio occultation experiments that match these data best are those that assume a high abundance of methane in the deep atmosphere, but none of these models provides a satisfactory fit over the full spectral range. This be the result of spatial differences between global and low-latitudinal regions, changes in time, missing continuum opacity sources such as stratospheric hazes or unknown tropospheric constituents, or undiagnosed systematic problems with either the radio-occultation or the Spitzer IRS data sets. The spectrum is compatible with the stratospheric temperatures derived from the Voyager ultraviolet occultations measurements. Thermospheric temperatures determined from the analysis of the observed H2 quadrupole emission features are colder than those derived by Herbert et al. at pressures less than ~1 microbar. Extrapolation of the nominal model spectrum to far-infrared through millimeter wavelengths shows that the spectrum arising solely from H2 collision-induced absorption is too warm to reproduce observations between wavelengths of 0.8 and 3.3 mm. Adding an additional absorber such as H2S provides a reasonable match to the spectrum, although a unique identification of the responsible absorber is not yet possible with available data. An immediate practical use for the spectrum resulting from this model is to establish a high-precision continuum flux model for use as an absolute radiometric standard for future astronomical observations.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2014

Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy of Uranus from the Spitzer Infrared Spectrometer: 2. Determination of the Mean Composition of the Upper Troposphere and Stratosphere

Mid-infrared spectral observations Uranus acquired with the Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) on the Spitzer Space Telescope are used to determine the abundances of C2H2, C2H6, CH3C2H, C4H2, CO2, and tentatively CH3 on Uranus at the time of the 2007 equinox. For vertically uniform eddy diffusion coefficients in the range 2200-2600 cm2 s-1, photochemical models that reproduce the observed methane emission also predict C2H6 profiles that compare well with emission in the 11.6-12.5 micron wavelength region, where the nu9 band of C2H6 is prominent. Our nominal model with a uniform eddy diffusion coefficient Kzz = 2430 cm2 sec-1 and a CH4 tropopause mole fraction of 1.6x10-5 provides a good fit to other hydrocarbon emission features, such as those of C2H2 and C4H2, but the model profile for CH3C2H must be scaled by a factor of 0.43, suggesting that improvements are needed in the chemical reaction mechanism for C3Hx species. The nominal model is consistent with a CH3D/CH4 ratio of 3.0+-0.2x10-4. From the best-fit scaling of these photochemical-model profiles, we derive column abundances above the 10-mbar level of 4.5+01.1/-0.8 x 10+19 molecule-cm-2 for CH4, 6.2 +- 1.0 x 10+16 molecule-cm-2 for C2H2 (with a value 24% higher from a different longitudinal sampling), 3.1 +- 0.3 x 10+16 molecule-cm-2 for C2H6, 8.6 +- 2.6 x 10+13 molecule-cm-2 for CH3C2H, 1.8 +- 0.3 x 10+13 molecule-cm-2 for C4H2, and 1.7 +- 0.4 x 10+13 molecule-cm-2 for CO2 on Uranus. Our results have implications with respect to the influx rate of exogenic oxygen species and the production rate of stratospheric hazes on Uranus, as well as the C4H2 vapor pressure over C4H2 ice at low temperatures.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2014

The Origin of Nitrogen on Jupiter and Saturn from the $^{15}$N/$^{14}$N Ratio

The Texas Echelon cross Echelle Spectrograph (TEXES), mounted on NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), was used to map mid-infrared ammonia absorption features on both Jupiter and Saturn in February 2013. Ammonia is the principle reservoir of nitrogen on the giant planets, and the ratio of isotopologues ($^{15}$N/$^{14}$N) can reveal insights into the molecular carrier (e.g., as N$_2$ or NH$_3$) of nitrogen to the forming protoplanets, and hence the source reservoirs from which these worlds accreted. We targeted two spectral intervals (900 and 960 cm$^{-1}$) that were relatively clear of terrestrial atmospheric contamination and contained close features of $^{14}$NH$_3$ and $^{15}$NH$_3$, allowing us to derive the ratio from a single spectrum without ambiguity due to radiometric calibration (the primary source of uncertainty in this study). We present the first ground-based determination of Jupiter's $^{15}$N/$^{14}$N ratio (in the range from $1.4\times10^{-3}$ to $2.5\times10^{-3}$), which is consistent with both previous space-based studies and with the primordial value of the protosolar nebula. On Saturn, we present the first upper limit on the $^{15}$N/$^{14}$N ratio of no larger than $2.0\times10^{-3}$ for the 900-cm$^{-1}$ channel and a less stringent requirement that the ratio be no larger than $2.8\times10^{-3}$ for the 960-cm$^{-1}$ channel ($1σ$ confidence). Specifically, the data rule out strong $^{15}$N-enrichments such as those observed in Titan's atmosphere and in cometary nitrogen compounds. To the extent possible with ground-based radiometric uncertainties, the saturnian and jovian $^{15}$N/$^{14}$N ratios appear indistinguishable, implying that $^{15}$N-enriched ammonia ices could not have been a substantial contributor to the bulk nitrogen inventory of either planet, favouring the accretion of primordial N$_2$ from the gas phase or as low-temperature ices.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2013

Neptune at Summer Solstice: Zonal Mean Temperatures from Ground-Based Observations 2003-2007

Imaging and spectroscopy of Neptune's thermal infrared emission is used to assess seasonal changes in Neptune's zonal mean temperatures between Voyager-2 observations (1989, heliocentric longitude Ls=236) and southern summer solstice (2005, Ls=270). Our aim was to analyse imaging and spectroscopy from multiple different sources using a single self-consistent radiative-transfer model to assess the magnitude of seasonal variability. Globally-averaged stratospheric temperatures measured from methane emission tend towards a quasi-isothermal structure (158-164 K) above the 0.1-mbar level, and are found to be consistent with spacecraft observations of AKARI. This remarkable consistency, despite very different observing conditions, suggests that stratospheric temporal variability, if present, is $\pm$5 K at 1 mbar and $\pm$3 K at 0.1 mbar during this solstice period. Conversely, ethane emission is highly variable, with abundance determinations varying by more than a factor of two. The retrieved C2H6 abundances are extremely sensitive to the details of the T(p) derivation. Stratospheric temperatures and ethane are found to be latitudinally uniform away from the south pole (assuming a latitudinally-uniform distribution of stratospheric methane). At low and midlatitudes, comparisons of synthetic Voyager-era images with solstice-era observations suggest that tropospheric zonal temperatures are unchanged since the Voyager 2 encounter, with cool mid-latitudes and a warm equator and pole. A re-analysis of Voyager/IRIS 25-50 μm mapping of tropospheric temperatures and para-hydrogen disequilibrium suggests a symmetric meridional circulation with cold air rising at mid-latitudes (sub-equilibrium para-H2 conditions) and warm air sinking at the equator and poles (super-equilibrium para-H2 conditions). The most significant atmospheric changes are associated with the polar vortex (absent in 1989).

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2008

Determination of the minimum masses of heavy elements in the envelopes of Jupiter and Saturn

We calculate the minimum mass of heavy elements required in the envelopes of Jupiter and Saturn to match the observed oversolar abundances of volatiles. Because the clathration efficiency remains unknown in the solar nebula, we have considered a set of sequences of ice formation in which the fraction of water available for clathration is varied between 0 and 100 %. In all the cases considered, we assume that the water abundance remains homogeneous whatever the heliocentric distance in the nebula and directly derives from a gas phase of solar composition. Planetesimals then form in the feeding zones of Jupiter and Saturn from the agglomeration of clathrates and pure condensates in proportions fixed by the clathration efficiency. A fraction of Kr and Xe may have been sequestrated by the H3+ ion in the form of stable XeH3+ and KrH3+ complexes in the solar nebula gas phase, thus implying the formation of at least partly Xe- and Kr-impoverished planetesimals in the feeding zones of Jupiter and Saturn. These planetesimals were subsequently accreted and vaporized into the hydrogen envelopes of Jupiter and Saturn, thus engendering volatiles enrichments in their atmospheres, with respect to hydrogen. Taking into account both refractory and volatile components, and assuming plausible molecular mixing ratios in the gas phase of the outer solar nebula, we show that it is possible to match the observed enrichments in Jupiter and Saturn, whatever the clathration efficiency. Our calculations predict that the O/H enrichment decreases from 6.7 to 5.6 times solar (O/H) in the envelope of Jupiter and from 18.1 to 15.4 times solar (O/H) in the envelope of Saturn with the growing clathration efficiency in the solar nebula.

astro-ph↗