Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 1 February 1991:
Vol. 251. no. 4993, pp. 547 - 549
DOI: 10.1126/science.251.4993.547
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Deuterium on Venus: Observations From Earth

CATHERINE DE BERGH 1, BRUNO BÉZARD 1, TOBIAS OWEN 2, DAVID CRISP 3, JEAN-PIERRE MAILLARD 4, and BARRY L. LUTZ 5

1 Département de Recherche Spatiale, Observatoire de Paris (Section de Meudon), 92195 Meudon Principal Cedex, France
2 Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822
3 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 169-237, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109
4 Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, 98bis Boulevard Arago, 75014, Paris, France
5 Lowell Observatory, Mars Hill Road, 1400 West, Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Absorption lines of HDO and H2O have been detected in a 0.23-wave number resolution spectrum of the dark side of Venus in the interval 2.34 to 2.43 micrometers, where the atmosphere is sounded in the altitude range from 32 to 42 kilometers (8 to 3 bars). The resulting value of the deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio (D/H) is 120 ± 40 times the telluric ratio, providing unequivocal confirmation of in situ Pioneer Venus mass spectrometer measurements that were in apparent conflict with an upper limit set from International Ultraviolet Explorer spectra. The 100-fold enrichment of the D/H ratio on Venus compared to Earth is thus a fundamental constraint on models for its atmospheric evolution.

Submitted on September 10, 1990
Accepted on December 12, 1990


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Ground-Based Near-Infrared Imaging Observations of Venus During the Galileo Encounter.
D. Crisp, D. CRISP, S. MCMULDROCH, S. K. STEPHENS, W. M. SINTON, B. RAGENT, K. -W. HODAPP, R. G. PROBST, L. R. DOYLE, D. A. ALLEN, et al. (1991)
Science 253, 1538-1541
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)