Planetary atmosphere observation analysis

Abstract:

In this presentation, we will show efforts made to include accurate photochemical modelling of hydrogen chloride (HCl) and ozone (O3) in the Mars Planetary Climate Model in order to reconcile recent observations.The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has detected and characterised trace gases in the Martian atmosphere over several Mars years. With its data, upper limits of potential constituents have been constrained, the accuracy of species’ concentration measurements has been improved, and seasonal and spatial variations in the atmosphere have been observed. The wealth of data obtained has addressed several open questions about the nature of Mars’ atmosphere, while other measurements have revealed much that remains poorly understood. For example, models continue to struggle to reproduce ozone distributions, both spatially and temporally, as well as seasonal variations in atmospheric oxygen (O2), suggesting that some key photochemical interactions may be being overlooked. As another example, despite seven years of dedicated observations producing very low upper limits on atmospheric methane levels, there remains no unifying hypothesis that simultaneously explains the detections reported by other Mars assets at Gale Crater [e.g., 1-4].Hydrogen chloride—the first new gas detected by TGO [5,6]—has been investigated recently using the mid-infrared channel on TGO’s Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS MIR) [7,8]. Observations show a strong seasonal dependence of HCl in the atmosphere, with almost all detections occurring during the latter half of the year between the start of dust activity and the southern hemisphere autumnal equinox. There are also unusual measurements of HCl, localised in both time and space, during the aphelion season. Chlorine-bearing species such as HCl are important to understand in the Mars atmosphere because on Earth they are involved in numerous processes throughout the planetary system, including volcanism, from which HCl on Earth ultimately originates. Further, chlorine species play a key role in atmospheric chemistry: they influence oxidative chemistry and variations in the aforementioned O2 and O3 concentrations (e.g., by catalysing the destruction of ozone), and by extension, potential CH4 in the Martian atmosphere [9]. However, much remains unknown about original source and sinks of HCl, as well as the factors controlling its distribution and variation.Here, we use the Mars Planetary Climate Model—a 3-D global climate model that includes a photochemical network—to investigate potential mechanisms accounting for patterns in ozone and HCl detections and interactions between them. We begin with the role of heterogeneous chemistry involving ice and dust aerosols, by implementing modelling developed for the Open University Mars Global Climate Model [10] and building on existing chlorine photochemical model networks [11,12,13]. Heterogeneous chemistry affects the abundances of oxidative species such as OH and HO2, and by extension, O and O3. In addition, we investigate how such processes can potentially serve as a mechanism for direct release and sequestration of HCl from the atmosphere. We also explore potential mechanisms behind the annual occurrence of spatially-constrained aphelion HCl, including volcanic sources, and we investigate the interplay between chlorine-bearing species and OH, HO2,O, and O3. Figure 1 shows the way that HCl appears during spring and summer in the southern hemisphere (solar longitudes 180-360°) when water vapour is present in the Martian atmosphere. Ozone behaves in the opposite manner and is present when water vapour abundances are low. As shown, these species are anti-correlated; we explore the important chemical pathways connecting them.Understanding the role of oxidative chemistry on HCl and other trace gases is key to achieving a more complete picture of processes occurring in the present-day Mars atmosphere, as well as processes that have shaped its evolution and habitability.Figure 1: Observations of CO, O2, O3 and HCl seasonally and across multiple Mars Years. Upper panel: CO and O2 observations from Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument (stars; [14]) and the Mars Climate Database (lines; [15]). Lower panel: O3 and HCl observations from TGO’s ACS instrument [8]. MY=Mars Year; NH/SH=northern/southern hemisphere. Figure from Kevin Olsen.References:[1] Giuranna, M., et al. (2019). Nat. Geosci. 12, 326–332. [2] Korablev, O. et al. (2019). Nature 568, 517–520. [3] Montmessin, F. et al. (2021). Astron. Astrophys. 650, A140. [4] Webster, C. R. et al. (2015). Science 347, 415-417. [5] Korablev O. I. et al. (2021). Sci. Adv., 7, eabe4386. [6] Olsen K. S. et al. (2021). Astron. Astrophys., 647, A161. [7] Olsen K. S. et al. (2024a). JGR, 129, e2024JE008350. [8] Olsen K. S. et al. (2024b). JGR, 129, e2024JE008351. [9] Taysum, B. M. et al. (2024). Astron. Astrophys., 687, A191. [10] Brown M. A. J. et al. (2022). JGR, 127, e2022JE007346. [11] Rajendran, K. et al. (2025). JGR: Planets 130(3), p.e2024JE008537. [12] Streeter, P. M. et al. (2025). GRL 52(6), p.e2024GL111059. [13] Benne, B. et al. (2024). EPSC, pEPSC2024-1037. [14] Trainer, M. G. et al. (2019). JGR 124, 3000. [15] Millour, E. et al. (2022). Mars Atmosphere: Modelling and Observations, p. 1103.

Abstract:

In 2018, analysis of Gemini-NIFS near-infrared observations revealed the probable presence of H2S above the main cloud deck on Neptune [1]. The spectral signature of the gas was found to be much stronger at Neptune's south pole compared to regions nearer the equator.Conversely, analysis of Neptune's microwave emission with ALMA suggested strongly enhanced H2S abundances at midlatitudes [2], with much less at the south pole. Determining the true variation of H2S with latitude is crucial for understanding the tropospheric circulation of Neptune.We present our analysis of observations of Neptune from VLT-SINFONI in 2018. Using a limb-darkening approximation, we are able to fit the reflected solar radiance from multiple zenith angles, which allows us to discriminate between gas and aerosol opacity. Despite the lower spectral resolution of this instrument compared to Gemini-NIFS, we are able to detect the H2S spectral signature. With our radiative transfer retrieval code, archNEMESIS [3], we use nested sampling to fit a parameterised cloud model (similar to that of [4]) to these observations over a range of latitudes. We prescribe a latitudinally varying deep methane abundance derived from recent VLT-MUSE observations [5], which enables us to constrain the depth of the cloud top.Our retrieved results are in agreement with the results derived from ALMA [2] - we find a significant enhancement of deep H2S at Neptune's southern midlatitudes, decreasing towards the equator and the pole. Our results show a much deeper cloud top towards the pole, resulting in the increased cloud top column abundance of H2S observed here in the previous near-infrared analysis [1].Figure 1: A comparison of fits to a spectrum extracted from the 50°S to 60°S latitude band, with a model including H2S (blue) and a model without H2S (red). Note the significant discrepancy around 1.58 microns. The models are fitted to spectra at two zenith angles simultaneously.[1] Irwin, P. G., Toledo, D., Garland, R., Teanby, N. A., Fletcher, L. N., Orton, G. S., & Bézard, B. (2019). Probable detection of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) in Neptune’s atmosphere. Icarus, 321, 550-563.[2] Tollefson, J., de Pater, I., Luszcz-Cook, S., & DeBoer, D. (2019). Neptune's latitudinal variations as viewed with ALMA. The Astronomical Journal, 157(6), 251.[3] Alday, J., Penn, J., Irwin, P. G., Mason, J. P., & Yang, J. (2025). archNEMESIS: an open-source Python package for analysis of planetary atmospheric spectra. arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.16452.[4] Irwin, P. G., Teanby, N. A., Fletcher, L. N., Toledo, D., Orton, G. S., Wong, M. H., ... & Dobinson, J. (2022). Hazy blue worlds: a holistic aerosol model for Uranus and Neptune, including dark spots. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 127(6), e2022JE007189.[5] Irwin, P. G., Dobinson, J., James, A., Wong, M. H., Fletcher, L. N., Roman, M. T., ... & de Pater, I. (2023). Latitudinal variations in methane abundance, aerosol opacity and aerosol scattering efficiency in Neptune's atmosphere determined from VLT/MUSE. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 128(11), e2023JE007980.

Abstract:

IntroductionJupiter’s northern Equatorial Zone (EZn) and southern North Equatorial Belt (NEBs) are dominated by three features: five-micron hotspots (seen as North Equatorial Dark Features, NEDFs, in the optical), white cloud plumes, and complex local circulation. These features are influenced by the NEBs jet, which is modulated by a meridionally trapped Rossby wave, in conjunction with the high concentration of ammonia in the EZ and the ammonia depletion in the NEB. Numerous measurements have been made of the temperature, aerosol, and ammonia distributions in this region (c.f. Fletcher et al., 2020). And a number of models have been partially successful at explaining the interrelationships between the observed features (c.f Showman & Dowling, 2000). Here we explore the ammonia and cloud height distribution during 2024-25, when NEDFs and five-micron hotspots were prominent, using the optical band-average technique (Hill et al., 2024, Irwin et al., 2025). We show that while many sensing methods highlight the ammonia and aerosol depletion in five-micron hotspots, this band average method highlights enhancements in ammonia to the south of the hotspots.ObservationsMultiple observations on 2025-01-06 were made allowing coverage of a wide range of longitudes and coverage of a given longitude at several zenith angles. Figure 1 shows maps constructed using the method of Hill et al. (2024). An empirical limb correction is applied in addition to a weighted averaging scheme for overlapping observations. The data clearly show that enhanced ammonia regions lie to the south of NEDFs (labeled 1-4 in order of ascending longitude). For the ammonia enhancements we observe a planetary wave number of nine, within the range of hotspot and NEDF wavenumbers typically observed.DiscussionThe NEBs jet speed peaks at about  7° N, which in fact marks the boundary between the NEDFs and the ammonia enhancements. Anticyclonic gyres are a known feature seen in the same location as we show ammonia enhancements (c.f. Choi et al., 2013). We hypothesize that these gyres are regions of uplift and outflow, bringing up ammonia rich air from deeper levels of the atmosphere. The NEDFs are thought to be areas of subsidence, with cyclonic flow, where dryer air descends from above and results in a clearing of aerosols. Figure 1D shows this schematically with upwelling occurring at the gyres, horizontal winds carrying condensates from the upwelling source to the east and northeast as the visible cloud plumes, and descending clear air in the NEDFs.To further support this hypothesis, we analyze the ammonia mole fraction and cloud pressure at the NEDFs, gyres, and in the plumes through a regions-of-interest (ROI) approach. Figure 2 shows a longitudinal subset of the data in Figure 1, focusing on ammonia regions 3 and 4. Rectangles outline the ROIs which are analyzed for three observation times in Figure 2A. Figure 2B shows a time series of average values at each observation time for cloud pressure and ammonia mole fraction along with statistical errors. Finally, 2C shows scatter plots of the average cloud pressure versus the ammonia abundance. Note the very clear clustering of points where the NEB sample provides a consistent reference with relatively high pressure and very low ammonia abundance. Following the upwelling ammonia, eastward advection of plume aerosols, and NEDF subsidence from Figure 1, we can trace an ammonia cycle between its gaseous source and sink, with an intermediary aerosol state.Future WorkHundreds of observations of NEDFs and ammonia enhancements in the EZn have been made in 2024-25 using the Hill et al. (2024) technique. This data set will be analyzed and assessed for the statistical consistency of the results presented here. In addition, this data set will be compared to complementary multispectral observations to help discriminate why the optical method seems to so clearly detect ammonia enhancements at the 1-2 bar pressure level and why these enhancements appear broad enough to overlap NEDFs.Figure 1. Ammonia mole fraction, cloud pressure, and visual context maps created from observations on 2025-01-06 using an 11 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. A) Ammonia mole fraction (ppm) with enhanced areas labeled 1-4 in order of ascending longitude. The black circle at left shows the approximate spatial resolution of the data. B) Cloud pressure (mbar). C) Visual context image with selected contour overlays to show enhanced ammonia mole fraction and lowest pressure (highest) clouds. D) Same as C), but with arrows indicating presumed upwelling (black ⊙), downwelling (white ⦻), and horizontal flow (red arrows). Figure 2. Two ammonia enhancements (4 & 3 from Figure 1), associated plumes, and NEDFs are analyzed for cloud pressure and ammonia abundance. Three observations are assessed with the targets near nadir viewing. A) Ammonia mole fraction, cloud pressure, and visual context image with overlaid rectangles indicating regions-of-interest (ROIs). B) Time series of cloud pressure (left) and ammonia mole fraction (right) over the three observations. C) Scatter plot of all ammonia and cloud measurements in each ROI (left) and of the averages over the three observations. Note that the NEB data are provided as a stable reference.ReferencesChoi, D. S. et al. 2013. Icarus, 223, 832. Hill, S. M. et al. 2024. Earth and Space Science, 11(8), e2024EA003562.Fletcher, L. N. et al. 2020. Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets), 125, e06399. Irwin, P. G. J. et al. 2025. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 130(1), e2024JE008622. Showman, A. P., & Dowling, T. E. 2000. Science, 289, 1737-1740. 

Abstract:

Introduction: The surfaces of airless bodies, such as asteroid (101955) Bennu, are typically composed of a regolith mixture containing both coarse and fine particulates. Observations from NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission demonstrated a discontinuity between the remote sensing derived thermophysical properties and thermal spectroscopy results, indicating that a fine layer of dust may be coating the large boulders and coarse regolith surface [1]. To better understand the impact of such a coating on the thermal infrared spectra measured at Bennu, this work developed experimental methods for simulating dust coverings using Space Resource Technology’s CI simulant, based on the bulk composition of the Orgueil meteorite [2].    Figure 1: FTIR Reflectance Spectra of Control Samples of CI simulant. Figure 2: Figure 2: Microscope Camera Images of Sample Surfaces (7%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 50% Fines wt) of CI simulant Methods: The CI simulant was first sieved into seven size fractions: 1000 mm. An unsieved sample was used as a control. The spectra of the eight samples were measured using a Bruker Vertex 70v Fourier Transform Infrared Reflectance (FTIR) spectrometer, normalized using a gold standard prior to and after measurements, in the range of 1000-650 cm-1 (Figure 1). The dust coating was simulated by placing increasing mass fractions of fine particulates (10% change in the spectral slope).  Implications for OSIRIS-Rex Findings: From the data returned by the OSIRIS-Rex Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES) [3],  thermal inertia modelling imply that the surface is porous;, however, the spectral findings indicate that the surface is composed of non-porous? rocks with thin dust coatings [4]. Our experiments find that as little as ~7 wt % of 7% wt) was sufficient to overwhelm and dominate mid-infrared emissivity spectra. The results indicate that the discontinuity in OTES data could be linked back to dust coating on the larger rocks and boulders.   References: [1] Tinker C. et al. (2023) RAS Techniques and Instruments (Vol. 2, Issue 1). [2] Landsman Z. et al. (2020) EPSC 2020. [3] Christensen P. R. et al. (2018) Space Science Reviews (Vol. 214, Issue 5). [4] Rozitis B. et al. (2022) JGR: Planets (Vol. 127, Issue 6). [5] Rivera-Hernandez F. et al. (2015) Icarus (Vol. 262). 

Abstract:

Clouds are the manifestations of atmospheric dynamics, chemistry, thermal evolution, and orbital characteristics; thus, understanding their physical and spectral properties and their spatial and temporal variability is critical to understanding the planet as a whole.  Observations of Saturn by the Hubble Space Telescope since 1994 and by Cassini from 2004 - 2017 have spanned almost one Saturn year (29.5 Earth years).  Despite the wealth of data, a self-consistent picture of the seasonal variations in Saturn’s haze and cloud structure remain elusive. In this work, we present a radiative transfer analysis of Cassini-VIMS (Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer) spectra in order to derive the vertical structure and color properties of Saturn’s clouds and their latitudinal and seasonal variability.  VIMS records spectra over visible (0.3 to 1.05 micron) and infrared (0.85 to 5.1 micron) channels at spectral resolutions of 7 and 16 nm, respectively.  After a review of the VIMS dataset, we have identified dayside spectra that capture unique cloud features in a given latitude circle at multiple emission angles, allowing for improved vertical discrimination of cloud models. Data are additionally available over multiple epochs, allowing us to analyze any seasonal evolution.  Using the NEMESIS radiative transfer code (Irwin et al., 2008, JQSRT 109, 1136-1150), we invert the VIMS spectra to derive the vertical profiles of phosphine (PH3), ammonia (NH3) and the vertical structure of 4 haze/cloud layers (using the cloud model and cloud/gas parameters shown in Figure 1).  In preliminary findings, in adopting the chromophore optical constants derived by Sromovsky et al., 2021 (Icarus 362, 114409) for a north polar cloud observed in 2016, we find we can adequately fit the spectra for a subset of clouds observed in September 2014.  At other locations/times, the chromophore optical constants derived by Sromovsly et al., 2021, need to be varied in order to fit the spectra within uncertainty, which indicates seasonal evolution of Saturn’s chromophore.  In this work, we present derived cloud properties and the optical constants of the derived chromophore as a function of latitude and season in order to shed light on the complex interplay between cloud structure, color, chemistry, and orbital characteristics.