A stringent upper limit of the PH$_3$ abundance at the cloud top of Venus

التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
العنوان: A stringent upper limit of the PH$_3$ abundance at the cloud top of Venus
المؤلفون: Encrenaz, T., Greathouse, T. K., Marcq, E., Widemann, T., Bézard, B., Fouchet, T., Giles, R., Sagawa, H., Greaves, J., Sousa-Silva, C.
سنة النشر: 2020
المجموعة: Astrophysics
مصطلحات موضوعية: Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
الوصف: Following the announcement of the detection of phosphine (PH$_3$) in the cloud deck of Venus at millimeter wavelengths, we have searched for other possible signatures of this molecule in the infrared range. Since 2012, we have been observing Venus in the thermal infrared at various wavelengths to monitor the behavior of SO$_2$ and H$_2$O at the cloud top. We have identified a spectral interval recorded in March 2015 around 950 cm$^{-1}$ where a PH$_3$ transition is present. From the absence of any feature at this frequency, we derive, on the disk-integrated spectrum, a 3-$\sigma$ upper limit of 5 ppbv for the PH$_3$ mixing ratio, assumed to be constant throughout the atmosphere. This limit is 4 times lower than the disk-integrated mixing ratio derived at millimeter wavelengths. Our result brings a strong constraint on the maximum PH$_3$ abundance at the cloud top and in the lower mesosphere of Venus.
Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, in press
نوع الوثيقة: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202039559
URL الوصول: http://arxiv.org/abs/2010.07817
رقم الأكسشن: edsarx.2010.07817
قاعدة البيانات: arXiv
الوصف
DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/202039559