Lower atmosphere and pressure evolution on Pluto from ground-based stellar occultations, 1988–2016

Abstract

Context. The tenuous nitrogen (N2) atmosphere on Pluto undergoes strong seasonal effects due to high obliquity and orbital eccentricity, and has recently (July 2015) been observed by the New Horizons spacecraft.

Aims. The main goals of this study are (i) to construct a well calibrated record of the seasonal evolution of surface pressure on Pluto and (ii) to constrain the structure of the lower atmosphere using a central flash observed in 2015.

Methods. Eleven stellar occultations by Pluto observed between 2002 and 2016 are used to retrieve atmospheric profiles (density, pressure, temperature) between altitude levels of ~5 and ~380 km (i.e. pressures from ~ 10 μbar to 10 nbar).

Results. (i) Pressure has suffered a monotonic increase from 1988 to 2016, that is compared to a seasonal volatile transport model, from which tight constraints on a combination of albedo and emissivity of N2 ice are derived. (ii) A central flash observed on 2015 June 29 is consistent with New Horizons REX profiles, provided that (a) large diurnal temperature variations (not expected by current models) occur over Sputnik Planitia; and/or (b) hazes with tangential optical depth of ~0.3 are present at 4–7 km altitude levels; and/or (c) the nominal REX density values are overestimated by an implausibly large factor of ~20%; and/or (d) higher terrains block part of the flash in the Charon facing hemisphere.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Meza, E Sicardy, B Assafin, M Ortiz, JL Bertrand, T Lellouch, E Desmars, J Forget, F Bérard, D Doressoundiram, A Lecacheux, J Oliveira, JM Roques, F Widemann, T Colas, F Vachier, F Renner, S Leiva, R Braga-Ribas, F Benedetti-Rossi, G Camargo, JIB Dias-Oliveira, A Morgado, B Gomes-Júnior, AR Vieira-Martins, R Behrend, R Tirado, AC Duffard, R Morales, N Santos-Sanz, P Jelínek, M Cunniffe, R Querel, R Harnisch, M Jansen, R Pennell, A Todd, S Ivanov, VD Opitom, C Gillon, M Jehin, E Manfroid, J Pollock, J Reichart, DE Haislip, JB Ivarsen, KM LaCluyze, AP Maury, A Gil-Hutton, R Dhillon, V https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4236-9642 Littlefair, S https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7221-855X Marsh, T Veillet, C Bath, K-L Beisker, W Bode, H-J Kretlow, M Herald, D Gault, D Kerr, S Pavlov, H Faragó, O Klös, O Frappa, E Lavayssière, M Cole, AA Giles, AB Greenhill, JG Hill, KM Buie, MW Olkin, CB Young, EF Young, LA Wasserman, LH Devogèle, M French, RG Bianco, FB Marchis, F Brosch, N Kaspi, S Polishook, D Manulis, I Ait Moulay Larbi, M Benkhaldoun, Z Daassou, A El Azhari, Y Moulane, Y Broughton, J Milner, J Dobosz, T Bolt, G Lade, B Gilmore, A Kilmartin, P Allen, WH Graham, PB Loader, B McKay, G Talbot, J Parker, S Abe, L Bendjoya, P Rivet, J-P Vernet, D Di Fabrizio, L Lorenzi, V Magazzú, A Molinari, E Gazeas, K Tzouganatos, L Carbognani, A Bonnoli, G Marchini, A Leto, G Sanchez, RZ Mancini, L Kattentidt, B Dohrmann, M Guhl, K Rothe, W Walzel, K Wortmann, G Eberle, A Hampf, D Ohlert, J Krannich, G Murawsky, G Gährken, B Gloistein, D Alonso, S Román, A Communal, J-E Jabet, F deVisscher, S Sérot, J Janik, T Moravec, Z Machado, P Selva, A Perelló, C Rovira, J Conti, M Papini, R Salvaggio, F Noschese, A Tsamis, V Tigani, K Barroy, P Irzyk, M Neel, D Godard, JP Lanoiselée, D Sogorb, P Vérilhac, D Bretton, M Signoret, F Ciabattari, F Naves, R Boutet, M De Queiroz, J Lindner, P Lindner, K Enskonatus, P Dangl, G Tordai, T Eichler, H Hattenbach, J Peterson, C Molnar, LA Howell, RR
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© E. Meza et al. 2019. Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords:	methods: observational; methods: data analysis; planets and satellites: atmospheres; techniques: photometric; planets and satellites: physical evolution; planets and satellites: terrestrial planets
Dates:	Accepted: 1 March 2019 Published (online): 10 May 2019 Published: May 2019
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield)
Funding Information:	Funder Grant number Science and Technology Facilities Council ST/J001589/1 Science and Technology Facilities Council ST/M001350/1 Science and Technology Facilities Council ST/R000964/1
Depositing User:	Symplectic Sheffield
Date Deposited:	03 Jul 2019 11:32
Last Modified:	03 Jul 2019 12:16
Status:	Published
Publisher:	EDP Sciences
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1051/0004-6361/201834281
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:146826

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Lower atmosphere and pressure evolution on Pluto from ground-based stellar occultations, 1988–2016

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