Oct 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.5703m&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #57.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.531
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Scientific paper
Evidence is reported for the presence of CO2 on the surface of Titan from the Cassini VIMS (an imaging visual and IR spectrometer) data (McCord et al., 2006, 2007). CO2 can be expected on Titan from basic planetary evolution models. It was also suggested as a plausible spectral component for bright material near the Huygens landing site (Rodriguez et al., 2006), based on structure in the 1.59-µm region. Hartung et al. (2006) searched for CO2 in one hemisphere, but they were able only to set an upper limit on the possible spatial coverage by pure CO2. Barnes et al., (2006) suggested CO2 as a possible candidate material for a 5-µm-bright region, named Tsegihi, based on the high 5-µm reflectance. However, these results are not inconsistent with our report. The evidence we report is three-fold: 1) A weak absorption near 4.9 µm in the 5-µm methane window for the Tui Regio region; 2) The spectral contrast between the 2.7- and 2.8-µm methane subwindows for the regions exhibiting the 4.9-µm absorption, with stronger absorption correlating with stronger contrast; and 3) the overall shape of the CO2 spectrum (for several grain-sizes) is consistent with the spectrum of one of the fundamental surface spectral components, as deduced by spectral mixture analysis modeling. The Tui Regio feature exhibits the strongest evidence in all three categories. Studies of this feature's morphology and albedo markings have suggested to some that it may be an active cryovolcanic feature (Barnes et al., 2006). If so, CO2 could be erupting and depositing as a frost. This likely happened elsewhere and at other times. Thus, CO2 could be a major constituent of the surface, but over time it may be mixed with other constituents, such as spectrally neutral organics raining from the atmosphere, thereby reducing the strength of its spectral signature.
Combe J.
Hansen Gary B.
Hayne Paul
McCord Thomas B.
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