The Condensation and Vaporization Behavior of Ices Containing SO2, H2S, and CO2: Implications for Io

✍ Scribed by Scott A. Sandford; Louis J. Allamandola

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 629 KB
• Volume: 106
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0019-1035
• DOI: 10.1006/icar.1993.1186

✦ Synopsis

In an extension of previously reported work on ices containing CO, CO2, H2O, CH3OH, NH3, and H2, measurements of the physical and infrared spectral properties of ices containing molecules relevant to Jupiter's moon Io are presented. These include studies on ice systems containing SO2, H2S, and CO2. The condensation and sublimation behaviors of each ice system and surface binding energies of their components are discussed. The surface binding energies can be used to calculate the residence times of the molecules on a surface as a function of temperature and thus represent important parameters for any calculation that attempts to model the transport of these molecules on Io's surface. The derived values indicate that SO2 frosts on Io are likely to anneal rapidly, resulting in less fluffy, "glassy" ices and that H2S can be trapped in the SO2 ices of Io during night-time hours provided that SO2 deposition rates are on the order of 5 micrometers/hr or larger.