The influence of internal gravitational coupling and ice viscosity on Titan's length-of-day variations

Details The influence of internal gravitational coupling and ice viscosity on Titan's length-of-day variations The influence of internal gravitational coupling and ice viscosity on Titan's length-of-day variations

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008epsc.conf..666v&link_type=abstract

European Planetary Science Congress 2008, Proceedings of the conference held 21-25 September, 2008 in Münster, Germany. Online a

Physics

Scientific paper

ABSTRACT Cassini radar observations show that Titan's spin is variable. Angular momentum exchange between Titan's surface and the atmosphere over seasonal time scales corresponding to Saturn's orbital period of 29.5 year is the most likely cause of the observed non-synchronous rotation. Since the rotation variations are almost an order of magnitude larger than expected for a solid Titan, it has been suggested that Titan has an internal ocean, which would decouple the rotation variations of the shell from those of the interior. However, we show that Titan is more likely to rotate almost as a rigid body, even when it has an internal ocean, because of substantial internal gravitational coupling between the shell and the interior. The observed large length-of-day (LOD) variations could then suggest that the atmosphere is more dynamic with larger seasonal variability than predicted. Alternatively, we show that a viscous outer ice shell can reduce the gravitational coupling between the shell and the interior and increase the LOD variations by relaxing the shape of the shell.

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