51ÁÔÆæÈë¿Ú

Abstract:

NASA’s Cassini mission revealed endogenic activity at the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The activity is concentrated along four fractures in Enceladus’ ice shell, which are much warmer than their surroundings and the source of Enceladus’ plumes. This work provides a review of the current state of knowledge of the energy and mass lost by Enceladus through this activity. Specifically, we discuss the composition of the plumes, along with their spatial and temporal variation. The mass flux loss predicted for the three plume constituents (gas, dust and charged particles) is reviewed and a total mass flux of ejected material that subsequently escapes Enceladus is estimated to be 2.1×1011 kg over a Saturn year. Given that Enceladus’ ocean is predicted to be 1019 kg this loss is sustainable in the very long term (∼1.5 billion Earth years). However, unless a resupply mechanism (such as serpentinization) exists molecular hydrogen is expected to be depleted within ∼1 million Earth years. The difficulty in determining Enceladus’ current heat flow is outlined, along with the advantages and disadvantages of the various techniques used to derive it. We find a robust lower limit for Enceladus’ exogenic production is 7.3 GW. Tidal heating models show endogenic emission of this level is sustainable, and Enceladus may have long-term near-surface heating (a result supported by studies of Enceladus’ geology). Finally, we offer suggestions for future observations, instrumentation, and missions. Enceladus remains a high-priority target for NASA, and as such it is highly likely that we will return to study this enigmatic world. Hopefully these missions will answer some of the questions that remain

Abstract:

Collisional parameters of H2O with CO2 are currently missing from international spectroscopic databases, although they are essential for accurate modeling of water vapor in CO2-rich planetary atmospheres. In this study, high-resolution infrared spectra of H2O broadened by CO2 were recorded using a Fourier Transform Spectrometer in the 1.18 and 2.34 µm spectral regions. CO2-collisional parameters for selected H2O transitions were derived through a multispectrum fitting procedure employing both Voigt and quadratic speed-dependent Voigt profiles. Furthermore, calculations based on the semi-classical Complex Robert-Bonamy-Ma formalism were performed to estimate CO2-broadened half-widths, line shifts, and their temperature dependencies across various atmospheric transparency windows. It results in a strong agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental data. Finally, the shared calculated linelist, obtained for a wide range of transitions, can be directly applied to radiative transfer modeling of atmospheres primarily composed of carbon dioxide

Abstract:

The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) spacecraft has been studying Mars' atmosphere since 2018. The sensitivity of the middle infrared channel (MIR) allows it to address many ardent topics and it is capable of improving and establishing upper limits for many trace species. In this work we present analysis of transmittance spectra in the 3332.5–3338.6 cm^−1 range with 30,000 resolution (λ∕Δλ), covering absorptions lines of three nitrogen-bearing species: ammonia (NH₃), hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and cyanoacetylene (HC₃N). According to existing models, all of those are not expected to be present in a CO₂-rich Martian atmosphere, but outgassing or unknown chemistry sources cannot be discounted. The upper limits of 14, 1.5 and 11 ppbv are obtained for NH₃, HCN and HC₃N from individual occultation measurements during the warm and dusty perihelion season of martian year 36. For the ammonia and hydrogen cyanide the upper limits are improved compared to previously published results. A search for cyanoacetylene on Mars is reported for the first time.