Changes of aerosol optical depth and of relative concentration of methane with altitude in the atmospheres of giant planets

Morozhenko, AV, 1Ovsak, AS
1Main Astronomical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Kinemat. fiz. nebesnyh tel (Online) 2009, 25(4):243-258
Language: Russian
Abstract: 

From the analysis of data on spectral dependence of geometric albedo, we determined the changes of the aerosol optical depth τα and relative concentration of methane γ with atmospheric pressure: lnτα = -0.720 + 1.507Δlnp (-2.2085 ≤ lnp ≤ -1.0018), lnτα = +1.225 +1.160Δlnp (-1.0018 ≤ lnp ≤ -0.0595), lnτα = +2.318 + 0.192Δlnp (-0.0595 ≤ lnp), γ = 0.0027 for Jupiter; lnτα = -0.846 + 1.598Δlnp (-3.3619 ≤ lnp ≤ -2.0575), lnτα = +1.238 + 1.342Δlnp (-2.0575 ≤ lnp ≤ -1.2074), lnτα = +2.379 + 0.722Δlnp (-1.2074≤ lnp ≤ -0.6501), lnτα = +2.781 + 0.326Δlnp (0.6501 ≤ lnp), γ = 0.0027 for Saturn; lnτα = -2.694 + 0.087Δlnp (+0.3685 ≤ lnp ≤ +1.2314), lnτα =-2.619+7.341Δlnp (+1.2314 ≤ lnp ≤ +1.7556), lnτα = +1.229 +0.956Δlnp (+1.7556 ≤ lnp) for Uranus; lnτα = -1.861 +1.248Δlnp (+0.3204 ≤ lnp ≤ +0.9051), lnτα = -1.131 + 0.347Δlnp (+0.9051 ≤ lnp) for Neptune; average values of the relative concentrations of methane: lnγ = –9.982 + 2.676Δlnp (0.3584 ≤ lnp ≤ 1.5445); lnγ = -9.738 + 2.561Δlnp (0.3237 ≤ lnp ≤ 1.6156), γ = 0.00382 (lnp ≥ 1.6156) and 0.00554 (lnp ≥ 1.6156) for Uranus and Neptune, respectively, (p in bars).

Keywords: giant planet, methane concentration, planet atmosphere