Further Constraints on the Smoothness of Ontario Lacus using Cassini RADAR Specular Reflection Data

Details Further Constraints on the Smoothness of Ontario Lacus using Cassini RADAR Specular Reflection Data Further Constraints on the Smoothness of Ontario Lacus using Cassini RADAR Specular Reflection Data

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.2103w&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #21.03

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Cassini RADAR altimetry data collected on the 49th flyby of Titan (T49; 2008 December 21) over Ontario Lacus in Titan's south polar region shows evidence for intense mirror-like specular reflections. Analysis of the strength of the specular return, which is expected to decline exponentially with increasing surface height variance, reveals that the surface is extremely smooth, with less than 3 mm rms surface height variation over the 100m-wide Fresnel zone ("Smoothness of Titan's Ontario Lacus: Constraints from Cassini RADAR specular reflection data", GRL 2009). The T49 echoes were stronger than expected, severely saturating the receiver and inhibiting an accurate estimation of the signal strength and, consequently, the rms surface height. While we developed a method to partially correct the echoes for the distortion incurred, our height estimate is only an upper limit. Further altimetry data over Ontario Lacus is expected in the T60 sequence on August 9th, 2009, where the receiver attenuation will be set high enough over the lake to avoid saturation, and quantization effects will also be minimized. In this presentation, we will report our latest estimates on the smoothness of Ontario Lacus’ surface and what they might suggest for limitations on the wind speeds or surface material characteristics.
This work was conducted under contract with the Cassini Project and was partially supported by NASA headquarters under the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship Program.

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