[ITAL]Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite[/ITAL] Observations of Jupiter and Saturn:Detection of 557 GH[CLC]z[/CLC] Water Emission from the Upper Atmosphere

Abstract

We have used the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite to carry out observations on Jupiter and Saturn in two bands centered at 489 and 553 GHz. We detect spectrally resolved 557 GHz H 2 O emission on both planets, constraining for the first time the residence levels of external water vapor in Jupiter's and Saturn's stratosphere. For both planets, the line appears to be formed at maximum pressures of about 5 mbar. For Jupiter, the data further show that water is not uniformly mixed but increases with altitude above the condensation level. In each planet, the amount of water implied by the data is 1.5-2.5 times larger than inferred from Infrared Space Observatory data. In addition, our observations provide new whole-disk brightness measurements of Jupiter and Saturn near 489 and 553 GHz.