An upper limit to the abundance of lightning-produced amino acids in the Jovian water clouds

The effect of excess hydrogen on the synthesis of amino acids, by high-temperature shock waves in a hydrogen/methane/ammonia/water vapor mixture, was studied experimentally. The energy efficiency results, together with the best estimate of the lightning energy dissipation rate on Jupiter, from the Voyager data, were used to calculate an upper limit to the rate of amino acid production by lightning in the Jovian water clouds. Using reasonable values for the eddy diffusion coefficients within and below the water clouds, the column abundance of lightning-produced amino acids in the clouds was estimated to be 6.2 × 10^-6 cm-am. Hence, concentration of amino acids in water droplets would be 8 × 10^-8 mole liter^-1.