We present deep Herschel-PACS spectroscopy of far-infrared water lines from a sample of four protoplanetary disks around solar-mass stars, selected to have strong water emission at mid-infrared wavelengths. By combining the new Herschel spectra with archival Spitzer-IRS spectroscopy, we retrieve a parameterized radial surface water vapor distribution from 0.1-100 AU using two-dimensional dust and line radiative transfer modeling. The surface water distribution is modeled with a step model comprising of a constant inner and outer relative water abundance and a critical radius at which the surface water abundance is allowed to change. We find that the four disks have critical radii of ∼ 3 − 11 AU, at which the surface water abundance decreases by at least 5 orders of magnitude. The measured values for the critical radius are consistently smaller than the location of the surface snow line, as predicted by the observed spectral energy distribution. This suggests that the sharp drop-off of the surface water abundance is not solely due to the local gas-solid balance, but may also be driven by the de-activation of gas-phase chemical pathways to water below 300 K. Assuming a canonical gas-to-dust ratio of 100, as well as coupled gas and dust temperatures T gas = T dust , the best-fit inner water abundances become implausibly high (0.01-1.0 H 2 −1 ). Conversely, a model in which the gas and dust temperatures are decoupled leads to canonical inner disk water abundances of ∼ 10 −4 H −1 2 , while retaining gas-to-dust ratios of 100. That is, the evidence for gas-dust decoupling in disk surfaces is stronger than for enhanced gas-to-dust ratios.

Advances in infrared and submillimeter technology have allowed for detailed observations of the molecular content of the planet-forming regions of protoplanetary disks. In particular, disks around solar-type stars now have growing molecular inventories that can be directly compared with both prestellar chemistry and that inferred for the early solar nebula. The data directly address the old question whether the chemistry of planet-forming matter is similar or different and unique relative to the chemistry of dense clouds and protostellar envelopes. The answer to this question may have profound consequences for the structure and composition of planetary systems. The practical challenge is that observations of emission lines from disks do not easily translate into chemical concentrations. Here, we present a two-dimensional radiative transfer model of RNO 90, a classical protoplanetary disk around a solar-mass star, and retrieve the concentrations of dominant molecular carriers of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen in the terrestrial region around 1 AU. We compare our results to the chemical inventory of dense clouds and protostellar envelopes, and argue that inner disk chemistry is, as expected, fundamentally different from prestellar chemistry. We find that the clearest discriminant may be the concentration of CO 2 , which is extremely low in disks, but one of the most abundant constituents of dense clouds and protostellar envelopes.