Publication Date:
2019-07-18
Description:
Carbon dioxide is the major constituent of the atmospheres of both Mars and Venus. Correct interpretations of spectra of these atmospheres require accurate knowledge of a substantial number of absorption bands of this gas. This is especially true for Venus; many weak CO2 bands that are insignificant in the earth's atmosphere are prominent absorbers in Venus' hot, dense lower atmosphere. Yet, recent near-infrared spectra of Venus' nightside have discovered emission windows, which occur between CO2 absorption bands, at 4040-4550 cm(exp-1), 5700-5900 cm(exp-1), and several smaller ones between 7500 and 9400 cm(exp-1). This radiation is due to thermal emission from Venus' lower atmosphere, diminished by scattering and absorption within the sulfuric acid clouds on its way to space. Simulations of these data with radiative transfer models can provide improved information on the abundances of a number of constituents of the lower atmosphere (e.g. H2O, CO, HDO, HCl, HF, and OCS) and the optical properties of the clouds, whose spatial variation modulates the brightness of the emissions. However, the accuracy of these retrievals has been limited by insufficient knowledge of the opacity of some of the gas species, including CO2, at the large pathlengths and high temperatures and pressures that exist on Venus. In particular, modeling the emission spectrum did not produce a good fit for the emission window centered at 7830 cm(exp-1). In an ongoing effort to assist analyses of these Venus spectra, we have been making laboratory intensity measurements of several weak bands of CO2 which are significant absorbers in these Venus emission windows. The CO2 bands that are prominent in the 7830 cm(exp-1) region belong to the vibrational sequence 4v1+v3 and associated hot bands. Only 2 of the 5 bands of this sequence have been previously measured. Modeling Venus' emission spectrum in the 7830 cm(exp-1) region had to rely on calculated intensity values for the weak ground state band at 7921 cm-1 and the associated hot bands. Since the calculated intensities of ground state bands are known to have significant uncertainties, we decided to measure this (40 deg 1)I (left arrow) (00 deg 0) band with the Ames 25 meter multiple reflection absorption cell and Fourier transform spectrometer. We also measured the (40 deg 1) (sub IV) (left arrow) (00 deg 0) band at 7460 cm(exp-1), which also had not been previously measured. These measurements are reported in this article, and we also give our reanalysis of the prior measurements of the (40 deg 1) (sub III) (left arrow) (00 deg 0) bands. These measurements provide the basis for improving calculated intensities for related hot bands as well as simulations of Venus' spectrum.
Keywords:
Inorganic, Organic and Physical Chemistry
Format:
text
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