Sulfur compounds have been observed in the atmospheres of a number of planetary bodies in our solar system including Venus, Earth, Mars, Io, Europa, and Callisto. These compounds can be important to understanding the evolution of planetary atmospheric chemistry and climate. Venus is a natural laboratory for studying sulfur chemistry. The global cloud cover on Venus, which is contained from an altitude of 50 to 80 kilometers, is composed of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and water.  Planetary photochemical models have attempted to explain observations of H2SO4 and sulfur oxides with significant discrepancies remaining between models and observation. In particular, high SO2 mixing rations are observed above 90 km which exceed model predictions by orders of magnitude. Work recently done in the Vaida lab has shown red light can drive photochemistry through overtone pumping for acids like H2SO4 and has been successful in explaining much of the sulfur chemistry in Earth's atmosphere. The importance of water in atmospheric chemistry prompted recent studies which clearly document interesting effects such as catalysis, suppression, and anti-catalysis of thermal and photochemical. We investigate the role of water complexes in the hydration of sulfur oxides and dehydration of sulfur acids and present spectroscopic studies to document such effects. We investigate these reactions using FTIR and UV/vis spectroscopy and will report on our findings. The processes considered in this work are important for understanding the atmospheric chemistry of planetary bodies both within our solar system and in exoplanetary systems.

Effects of water on sulfur chemistry in planetary atmospheres

247th National Meeting (2014)

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