Detection of hydrogen sulfide above the clouds in Uranus’s atmosphere
Visible-to-near-infrared observations indicate that the cloud top of the main cloud deck on Uranus lies at a pressure level of between 1.2 bar and 3 bar. However, its composition has never been unambiguously identified, although it is widely assumed to be composed primarily of either ammonia or hydr...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
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Nature Publishing Group
2018
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| _version_ | 1797081622765371392 |
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| author | Irwin, P Toledo Carrasco, D Garland, R Teanby, N Fletcher, L Orton, G Bezard, B |
| author_facet | Irwin, P Toledo Carrasco, D Garland, R Teanby, N Fletcher, L Orton, G Bezard, B |
| author_sort | Irwin, P |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Visible-to-near-infrared observations indicate that the cloud top of the main cloud deck on Uranus lies at a pressure level of between 1.2 bar and 3 bar. However, its composition has never been unambiguously identified, although it is widely assumed to be composed primarily of either ammonia or hydrogen sulfide (H2S) ice. Here, we present evidence of a clear detection of gaseous H2S above this cloud deck in the wavelength region 1.57–1.59 μm with a mole fraction of 0.4–0.8 ppm at the cloud top. Its detection constrains the deep bulk sulfur/nitrogen abundance to exceed unity (>4.4–5.0 times the solar value) in Uranus’s bulk atmosphere, and places a lower limit on the mole fraction of H2S below the observed cloud of (1.0−2.5)×10−5. The detection of gaseous H2S at these pressure levels adds to the weight of evidence that the principal constituent of 1.2–3-bar cloud is likely to be H2S ice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:16:46Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:8ef4459a-29ec-4420-87af-e149c4f35c73 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:16:46Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:8ef4459a-29ec-4420-87af-e149c4f35c732022-03-26T23:01:08ZDetection of hydrogen sulfide above the clouds in Uranus’s atmosphereJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:8ef4459a-29ec-4420-87af-e149c4f35c73Symplectic Elements at OxfordNature Publishing Group2018Irwin, PToledo Carrasco, DGarland, RTeanby, NFletcher, LOrton, GBezard, BVisible-to-near-infrared observations indicate that the cloud top of the main cloud deck on Uranus lies at a pressure level of between 1.2 bar and 3 bar. However, its composition has never been unambiguously identified, although it is widely assumed to be composed primarily of either ammonia or hydrogen sulfide (H2S) ice. Here, we present evidence of a clear detection of gaseous H2S above this cloud deck in the wavelength region 1.57–1.59 μm with a mole fraction of 0.4–0.8 ppm at the cloud top. Its detection constrains the deep bulk sulfur/nitrogen abundance to exceed unity (>4.4–5.0 times the solar value) in Uranus’s bulk atmosphere, and places a lower limit on the mole fraction of H2S below the observed cloud of (1.0−2.5)×10−5. The detection of gaseous H2S at these pressure levels adds to the weight of evidence that the principal constituent of 1.2–3-bar cloud is likely to be H2S ice. |
| spellingShingle | Irwin, P Toledo Carrasco, D Garland, R Teanby, N Fletcher, L Orton, G Bezard, B Detection of hydrogen sulfide above the clouds in Uranus’s atmosphere |
| title | Detection of hydrogen sulfide above the clouds in Uranus’s atmosphere |
| title_full | Detection of hydrogen sulfide above the clouds in Uranus’s atmosphere |
| title_fullStr | Detection of hydrogen sulfide above the clouds in Uranus’s atmosphere |
| title_full_unstemmed | Detection of hydrogen sulfide above the clouds in Uranus’s atmosphere |
| title_short | Detection of hydrogen sulfide above the clouds in Uranus’s atmosphere |
| title_sort | detection of hydrogen sulfide above the clouds in uranus s atmosphere |
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