A spatially resolved high spectral resolution study of Neptune’s stratosphere

Abstract Using TEXES, the Texas Echelon cross Echelle Spectrograph, mounted on the Gemini North 8-m telescope we have mapped the spatial variation of H2, CH4, C2H2 and C2H6 thermal-infrared emission of Neptune. These high-spectral-resolution, spatially resolved, thermal-infrared observations of Neptune offer a unique glimpse into the state of Neptune’s stratosphere in October 2007, LS = 275.4° just past Neptune’s southern summer solstice (LS = 270°). We use observations of the S(1) pure rotational line of molecular hydrogen and a portion of the ν4 band of methane to retrieve detailed information on Neptune’s stratospheric vertical and meridional thermal structure. We find global-average temperatures of 163.8 ± 0.8, 155.0 ± 0.9, and 123.8 ± 0.8 K at the 7.0 × 10−3-, 0.12-, and 2.1-mbar levels with no meridional variations within the errors. We then use the inferred temperatures to model the emission of C2H2 and C2H6 in order to derive stratospheric volume mixing ratios (hence forth, VMR) as a function of pressure and latitude. There is a subtle meridional variation of the C2H2 VMR at the 0.5-mbar level with the peak abundance found at −28° latitude, falling off to the north and south. However, the observations are consistent within error to a meridionally constant C2H2 VMR of 3.3 - 0.9 + 1.2 × 10 - 8 at 0.5 mbar. We find that the VMR of C2H6 at 1-mbar peaks at the equator and falls by a factor of 1.6 at −70° latitude. However, a meridionally constant VMR of 9.3 - 2.6 + 3.5 × 10 - 7 at the 1-mbar level for C2H6 is also statistically consistent with the retrievals. Temperature predictions from a radiative-seasonal climate model of Neptune that assumes the hydrocarbon abundances inferred in this paper are lower than the measured temperatures by 40 K at 7 × 10−3 mbar, 30 K at 0.12 mbar and 25 K at 2.1 mbar. The radiative-seasonal model also predicts meridional temperature variations on the order of 10 K from equator to pole, which are not observed. Assuming higher stratospheric CH4 abundance at the equator relative to the south pole would bring the meridional trends of the inferred temperatures and radiative-seasonal model into closer agreement. We have also retrieved observations of C2H4 emission from Neptune’s stratosphere using TEXES on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) in June 2003, LS = 266°. Using the observations from the middle of the planet and an average of the middle three latitude temperature profiles from the 2007 observations (9.5° of LS later, the seasonal equivalent of 9.5 Earth days within Earth’s seasonal cycle), we infer a C2H4 VMR of 5.9 - 0.8 + 1.0 × 10 - 7 at 1.5 × 10−3 mbar, a value that is 3.25 times that predicted by global-average photochemical models.