Long-term Chemical Evolution of the Jupiter Stratosphere Following the SL9 Impacts
Abstract
Analyses of post-impact ultraviolet spectra of Jupiter taken with the Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Spectrograph to determine abundances and vertical distribution of impact-generated species such as CS_2 and NH_3 have been presented for data obtained through August 9, 1994 by Yelle and McGrath (1996). We present in this paper new analyses of post-impact data taken in March, April and September 1995. Initial modeling of the April 1995 data shows the continued presence of NH_3 and CS_2 in the stratosphere, and an NH_3 distribution of ~ 10(16) cm(-2) in the lower stratosphere between 30 and 70 mbar, and no NH_3 above 30 mbar produces a good fit to the data. Confinement of NH_3 to the troposphere (below 100 mbar) does not produce adequate NH_3 band contrast to match the April 1995 data. Information about the aerosol population inferred from model fits to the data imply that the abundance has decreased, and that the aerosols reside deeper in the atmosphere (> 70 mbar) than in August 1994. The abundances and distributions, particularly for NH_3, will be compared with other data and the photochemical models.
- Publication:
-
AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts #28
- Pub Date:
- September 1996
- Bibcode:
- 1996DPS....28.2241M