Journal article
Detection of hydrogen sulfide above the clouds in Uranus’s atmosphere
- Abstract:
- Visible-to-near-infrared observations indicate that the cloud top of the main cloud deck on Uranus lies at a pressure level of between 1.2 bar and 3 bar. However, its composition has never been unambiguously identified, although it is widely assumed to be composed primarily of either ammonia or hydrogen sulfide (H2S) ice. Here, we present evidence of a clear detection of gaseous H2S above this cloud deck in the wavelength region 1.57–1.59 μm with a mole fraction of 0.4–0.8 ppm at the cloud top. Its detection constrains the deep bulk sulfur/nitrogen abundance to exceed unity (>4.4–5.0 times the solar value) in Uranus’s bulk atmosphere, and places a lower limit on the mole fraction of H2S below the observed cloud of (1.0−2.5)×10−5. The detection of gaseous H2S at these pressure levels adds to the weight of evidence that the principal constituent of 1.2–3-bar cloud is likely to be H2S ice.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 667.3KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1038/s41550-018-0432-1
Authors
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Journal:
- Nature Astronomy More from this journal
- Volume:
- 2
- Issue:
- 2018
- Pages:
- 420-427
- Publication date:
- 2018-04-23
- Acceptance date:
- 2018-02-27
- DOI:
- ISSN:
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2397-3366
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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pubs:844223
- UUID:
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uuid:8ef4459a-29ec-4420-87af-e149c4f35c73
- Local pid:
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pubs:844223
- Source identifiers:
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844223
- Deposit date:
-
2018-04-25
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Irwin, et al
- Copyright date:
- 2018
- Notes:
- © Irwin, et al 2018. This is the author accepted manuscript following peer review version of the article. The final version is available online from Nature Publishing Group at: 10.1038/s41550-018-0432-1
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