Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1772908 Icarus 2016 36 Pages PDF
Abstract
We also consider Neptune's methane (CH4) profile, and find that our retrievals indicate a strong preference for a low methane relative humidity at pressures where methane is expected to condense. When we include in our fits a parameter for methane depletion below the CH4 condensation pressure, our preferred solution at most locations is for a methane relative humidity below 10% near the tropopause in addition to methane depletion down to 2.0-2.5 bar. We tentatively identify a trend of lower CH4 columns above 2.5 bar at mid- and high-southern latitudes over low latitudes, qualitatively consistent with what is found by Karkoschka and Tomasko (2011), and similar to, but weaker than, the trend observed for Uranus.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Earth and Planetary Sciences Space and Planetary Science
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