Liquid Water Oceans in Ice Giants

@article{Wiktorowicz2007LiquidWO,
  title={Liquid Water Oceans in Ice Giants},
  author={Sloane J. Wiktorowicz and Andrew P. Ingersoll},
  journal={Icarus},
  year={2007},
  volume={186},
  pages={436-447}
}
Aptly named, ice giants such as Uranus and Neptune contain significant amounts of water. While this water cannot be present near the cloud tops, it must be abundant in the deep interior. We investigate the likelihood of a liquid water ocean existing in the hydrogen-rich region between the cloud tops and deep interior. Starting from an assumed temperature at a given upper tropospheric pressure (the photosphere), we follow a moist adiabat downward. The mixing ratio of water to hydrogen in the gas… Expand
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