Jovian Stratosphere as a Chemical Transport System: Benchmark Analytical Solutions

Abstract

We systematically investigated the solvable analytical benchmark cases in both one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) chemical-advective-diffusive systems. We use the stratosphere of Jupiter as an example but the results can be applied to other planetary atmospheres and exoplanetary atmospheres. In the 1D system, we show that CH_4 and C_2H_6 are mainly in diffusive equilibrium, and the C_2H_2 profile can be approximated by modified Bessel functions. In the 2D system in the meridional plane, analytical solutions for two typical circulation patterns are derived. Simple tracer transport modeling demonstrates that the distribution of a short-lived species (such as C_2H_2) is dominated by the local chemical sources and sinks, while that of a long-lived species (such as C_2H_6) is significantly influenced by the circulation pattern. We find that an equator-to-pole circulation could qualitatively explain the Cassini observations, but a pure diffusive transport process could not. For slowly rotating planets like the close-in extrasolar planets, the interaction between the advection by the zonal wind and chemistry might cause a phase lag between the final tracer distribution and the original source distribution. The numerical simulation results from the 2D Caltech/JPL chemistry-transport model agree well with the analytical solutions for various cases.

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