Chemical structure of the deep atmosphere of Jupiter

We report here the equilibrium abundances calculated for a system of over 500 compounds of 27 selected elements along a nominal Jupiter adiabat. Several species predicted to be of negligible abundance in the visible upper troposphere if chemical equilibrium is exactly attained are found to be potential tracers of rapid vertical motions. Vertical mixing of certain species, especially CO, PH₃, AsH₃, GeS, and GeH₄, may provide detectable quantities of these species near the visible cloudtops due to quenching and incomplete equilibration of the rapidly rising, rapidly cooling gas. Observational prospects for detecting such tracers of deep circulation are discussed in the light of the spectroscopic detection of CO in the 5-μm window on Jupiter and the confirmation of PH₃ on both Jupiter and Saturn.