  This report arises from an ongoing program to monitor Neptune's largest moon
Triton spectroscopically in the 0.8 to 2.4 micron range using IRTF/SpeX. Our
objective is to search for changes on Triton's surface as witnessed by changes
in the infrared absorption bands of its surface ices N2, CH4, H2O, CO, and CO2.
We have recorded infrared spectra of Triton on 53 nights over the ten
apparitions from 2000 through 2009. The data generally confirm our previously
reported diurnal spectral variations of the ice absorption bands (Grundy &
Young 2004). Nitrogen ice shows a large amplitude variation, with much stronger
absorption on Triton's Neptune-facing hemisphere. We present evidence for
seasonal evolution of Triton's N2 ice: the 2.15 micron absorption band appears
to be diminishing, especially on the Neptune-facing hemisphere. Although it is
mostly dissolved in N2 ice, Triton's CH4 ice shows a very different
longitudinal variation from the N2 ice, challenging assumptions of how the two
ices behave. Unlike Triton's CH4 ice, the CO ice does exhibit longitudinal
variation very similar to the N2 ice, implying that CO and N2 condense and
sublimate together, maintaining a consistent mixing ratio. Absorptions by H2O
and CO2 ices show negligible variation as Triton rotates, implying very uniform
and/or high latitude spatial distributions for those two non-volatile ices.
