Vapor pressure isotope fractionation effects in planetary atmospheres: Application to deuterium

The impact of the vapor pressure difference between deuterated and nondeuterated condensing molecules in planetary atmospheres is quantitatively assessed. This difference results in a loss of deuterium in the vapor phase above the condensation level. In Titan, Uranus, and Neptune, the effect on CH(3)D is too subtle to alter current D/H ratio determinations, In Mars, the effect can induce a large depletion of HDO, starting about one scale height above the condensation level. Although the current infrared measurements of the D/H ratio appear to be almost unaffected, the intensity of disk-averaged millimetric HDO lines can be modified by about 10%. The effect is much stronger in limb sounding and can be easily detected from orbiter observations. (C) 2000 Academic Press.