Near-IR Spectrophotometry of Saturnian Aerosols—Meridional and Vertical Distribution

✍ Scribed by Daphne M. Stam; Don Banfield; Peter J. Gierasch; Philip D. Nicholson; Keith Matthews

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 364 KB
• Volume: 152
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0019-1035
• DOI: 10.1006/icar.2001.6641

✦ Synopsis

Photometrically calibrated grism spectra of Saturn in the H-(1.45-1.80 µm) and K-band (1.95-2.50 µm) are presented. The spectra were obtained with the 200-inch Hale telescope at Palomar mountain three days after the ring plane crossing of August 10, 1995. By inversion of the spectra, the vertical distribution of the scattering density is obtained as a function of latitude along the central meridian, for pressures ranging from about 10 to 600 mbar. At all latitudes, we find a vertical structure consisting of a stratospheric haze layer and a more dense upper tropospheric haze layer, with density minima both above and below the tropospheric layer. At northern midlatitudes, the upper tropospheric haze is located deeper into the atmosphere than at similar southern midlatitudes. This hemispherical asymmetry can be explained by seasonal influences. The largest scattering densities in the upper tropospheric haze layer are found at tropical latitudes, between about -10 • and +15 • .