Longitudinal variations in the stratosphere of Uranus from the Spitzer infrared spectrometer

NASA's Spitzer Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) acquired mid-infrared (5-37 mu m) disc-averaged spectra of Uranus very near to its equinox in December 2007. A mean spectrum was constructed from observations of multiple central meridian longitudes, spaced equally around the planet, which has provided the opportunity for the most comprehensive globally-averaged characterisation of Uranus' temperature and composition ever obtained (Orton et al., 2014a,b). In this work we analyse the disc-averaged spectra at four separate central meridian longitudes to reveal significant longitudinal variability in thermal emission occurring in Uranus' stratosphere during the 2007 equinox. We detect a variability of up to 15% at wavelengths sensitive to stratospheric methane, ethane and acetylene at the similar to 0.1-mbar level. The tropospheric hydrogen-helium continuum and deuterated methane absorption exhibit a negligible variation (less than 2%), constraining the phenomenon to the stratosphere. Building on the forward-modelling analysis of the global average study, we present full optimal estimation inversions (using the NEMESIS retrieval algorithm, Irwin et al., 2008) of the Uranus-2007 spectra at each longitude to distinguish between thermal and compositional variability. We found that the variations can be explained by a temperature change of less than 3 K in the stratosphere. Near-infrared observations from Keck II NIRC2 in December 2007 (Sromovsky et al., 2009; de Pater et al., 2011), and mid-infrared observations from VLT/VISIR in 2009 (Roman et al., 2020), help to localise the potential sources to either large scale uplift or stratospheric wave phenomena.

Automated summary

The Spitzer Infrared Spectrometer acquired mid-infrared spectra of Uranus near its equinox in 2007, revealing significant thermal and compositional variability in its stratosphere. Longitudinal analysis showed up to 15% variability in gases sensitive to certain wavelengths at stratospheric levels. Optimal estimation inversions suggested that these variations can be explained by a temperature change of less than 3 K in the stratosphere, with potential sources localized to large scale uplift or stratospheric wave phenomena.