Vibrationally excited H2 in the upper atmosphere of Saturn

The impact of resonance fluorescense of solar EUV radiation by H2 on the distribution of the vibrational levels of H2 in the upper atmosphere of Saturn is considered. It appears that, for vibration levels, v not smaller than 3, this is the most important source, more important than those due to photoelectron induced fluorescence, recombination of molecular ions such as H3(+), and vibrational excitation of H2 by photoelectron impact. Based on the Voyager limb observations of H2 band emission, it is estimated that some of the higher vibrational levels may have effective temperatures about 3500 K. Such high vibrational densities may have an impact on ionospheric densities.