dc.contributor.author | Irwin, Patrick G.J. | |
dc.contributor.author | Dobinson, Jack | |
dc.contributor.author | James, Arjuna | |
dc.contributor.author | Wong, Michael H. | |
dc.contributor.author | Fletcher, Leigh N. | |
dc.contributor.author | Roman, Michael T. | |
dc.contributor.author | Teanby, Nicholas A. | |
dc.contributor.author | Toledo, Daniel | |
dc.contributor.author | Orton, Glenn S. ![ORCID](/themes/Mirage2//images/orcid_16x16.png) | |
dc.contributor.author | Pérez Hoyos, Santiago ![ORCID](/themes/Mirage2//images/orcid_16x16.png) | |
dc.contributor.author | Sánchez Lavega, Agustín María ![ORCID](/themes/Mirage2//images/orcid_16x16.png) | |
dc.contributor.author | Simon, Amy A. | |
dc.contributor.author | Morales Juberías, Raúl | |
dc.contributor.author | de Pater, Imke | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2023-12-28T10:34:03Z | |
dc.date.available | 2023-12-28T10:34:03Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2023-11 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 128(11) : (2023) // Article ID e2023JE007980 | es_ES |
dc.identifier.issn | 2169-9100 | |
dc.identifier.issn | 2169-9097 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10810/63687 | |
dc.description.abstract | Spectral observations of Neptune made in 2019 with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile have been analyzed to determine the spatial variation of aerosol scattering properties and methane abundance in Neptune's atmosphere. The darkening of the South Polar Wave at ∼60°S, and dark spots such as the Voyager 2 Great Dark Spot is concluded to be due to a spectrally dependent darkening (λ < 650 nm) of particles in a deep aerosol layer at ∼5 bar and presumed to be composed of a mixture of photochemically generated haze and H2S ice. We also note a regular latitudinal variation of reflectivity at wavelengths of very low methane absorption longer than ∼650 nm, with bright zones latitudinally separated by ∼25°. This feature, which has similar spectral characteristics to a discrete deep bright spot DBS-2019 found in our data, is found to be consistent with a brightening of the particles in the same ∼5-bar aerosol layer at λ > 650 nm. We find the properties of an overlying methane/haze aerosol layer at ∼2 bar are, to first-order, invariant with latitude, while variations in the opacity of an upper tropospheric haze layer reproduce the observed reflectivity at methane-absorbing wavelengths, with higher abundances found at the equator and also in a narrow “zone” at 80°S. Finally, we find the mean abundance of methane below its condensation level to be 6%–7% at the equator reducing to ∼3% south of ∼25°S, although the absolute abundances are model dependent. | es_ES |
dc.description.sponsorship | We are grateful to the United Kingdom Science and Technology Facilities Council for funding this research (Irwin: ST/S000461/1, Teanby: ST/R000980/1). Glenn Orton was supported by funding to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). Leigh Fletcher and Mike Roman were supported by a European Research Council Consolidator Grant (under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement no. 723890) at the University of Leicester. Santiago Pérez-Hoyos and Agustin Sánchez-Lavega are supported by the Spanish project PID2019-109467GB-I00 (MINECO/FEDER, UE), Elkartek21/87 KK-2021/00061 and Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT-1742-22. | es_ES |
dc.language.iso | eng | es_ES |
dc.publisher | Wiley | es_ES |
dc.relation | info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/723890 | es_ES |
dc.relation | info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MICINN/PID2019-109467GB-I00 | es_ES |
dc.rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess | es_ES |
dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ | * |
dc.title | Latitudinal Variations in Methane Abundance, Aerosol Opacity and Aerosol Scattering Efficiency in Neptune's Atmosphere Determined From VLT/MUSE | es_ES |
dc.type | info:eu-repo/semantics/article | es_ES |
dc.rights.holder | © 2023. The Authors.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. | es_ES |
dc.rights.holder | Atribución 3.0 España | * |
dc.relation.publisherversion | https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023JE007980 | es_ES |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1029/2023JE007980 | |
dc.contributor.funder | European Commission | |
dc.departamentoes | Física aplicada I | es_ES |
dc.departamentoeu | Fisika aplikatua I | es_ES |