Phosphine in the Venusian Atmosphere: A Strict Upper Limit From SOFIA GREAT Observations
Name
Geophysical Research Letters - 2022 - Cordiner - Phosphine in the Venusian Atmosphere A Strict Upper Limit From SOFIA.pdf
Description
Published version
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641.98 KB
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Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Cordiner, MA
Villanueva, GL
Wiesemeyer, H
Milam, SN
de Pater, I
Moullet, A
Aladro, R
Nixon, CA
Thelen, AE
Charnley, SB
Date Issued
October 21, 2022
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Citation
Cordiner, M. A., Villanueva, G. L., Wiesemeyer, H., Milam, S. N., dePater, I., Moullet, A., et al. (2022). Phosphine in the Venusian atmosphere: A strict upper limit from SOFIA GREAT observations. Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2022GL101055.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The presence of phosphine (PH3) in the atmosphere of Venus was reported by Greaves et al. (2021, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1174-4), based on observations of the J = 1–0 transition at 267 GHz using ground-based, millimeter-wave spectroscopy. This unexpected discovery presents a challenge for our understanding of Venus's atmosphere, and has led to a reappraisal of the possible sources and sinks of atmospheric phosphorous-bearing gases. Here we present results from a search for PH3 on Venus using the German REceiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies instrument aboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy aircraft, over three flights conducted in November 2021. Multiple PH3 transitions were targeted at frequencies centered on 533 and 1,067 GHz, but no evidence for atmospheric PH3 was detected. Through radiative transfer modeling, we derived a disk-averaged upper limit on the PH3 abundance of 0.8 ppb in the altitude range 75–110 km, which is more stringent than previous ground-based studies.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
10.1029/2022gl101055
