Carbon Monoxide Mixing Ratios Research Articles

Carbon Monoxide on Jupiter and Implications for Atmospheric Convection

A study of the equilibrium and disequilibrium thermochemistry of the recently discovered carbon monoxide on Jupiter suggests that the presence of this gas in the visible atmosphere is a direct result of very rapid upward mixing from levels in the deep atmosphere where the temperature is about 1100 degrees K and where carbon monoxide is thermodynamically much more stable. As a consequence the observed carbon monoxide mixing ratio is a sensitive function of the vertical eddy mixing coefficient. We infer a value for this latter coefficient which is about three to four orders of magnitude greater than that in the earth's troposphere. This result directly supports existing structural and dynamical theories implying very rapid convection in the deep Jovian atmosphere, driven by an internal heat source.

Venus: Microwave Detection of Carbon Monoxide

The 115-gigahertz microwave line of carbon monoxide has been detected in the spectrum of Venus. The measurement proves that the carbon monoxide mixing ratio increases above an altitude of 85 kilometers in the Venus stratosphere and provides quantitative information on carbon monoxide in the altitude region from 80 to 110 kilometers. This altitude region is well above that which has been previously sensed.

Decrease of the carbon monoxide mixing ratio at the tropopause

Atmospheric CO was measured with the aid of instrumented aircraft operating in the vicinity of the tropopause and in the lower stratosphere. In confirmation of previous measurements the CO mixing ratio was found to decrease above the tropopause. From the observed gradients the size of the stratospheric CO sink can be calculated. Above the mixing region adjacent to the tropopause the CO mixing ratio assumes a new constant value of about 0.04 ppm. The stratospheric CO value is interpreted as the balance between the production by oxidation of hydrocarbons (e.g., methane) and the consumption by reaction with OH radicals. The steady-state CO mixing ratio and the OH radical concentration required to provide the observed stratospheric CO sink are in satisfactory agreement with a recent model by McConnell et al. (1971).

Decrease of carbon monoxide mixing ratio above the polar tropopause

It is now established that CO is a regular constituent of the troposphere with mixing ratios ranging from about 0.1 t o 0.2 ppm in uncontaminated air (see e.g. the compilation of newest data by Robinson & Robbins, 1967). DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1969.tb00459.x

Decrease of carbon monoxide mixing ratio above the polar tropopause

Decrease of carbon monoxide mixing ratio above the polar tropopause