Probing Titan's Polar Vortex With Chemical Tracers

Details Probing Titan's Polar Vortex With Chemical Tracers Probing Titan's Polar Vortex With Chemical Tracers

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.2006t&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #20.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.422

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Titan's winter polar vortex has profound effects on its atmospheric circulation and chemistry and is currently the most important dynamical feature of Titan's stratosphere and mesosphere.
We use two years of limb observations from Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) to determine atmospheric cross sections of five independent chemical tracers (HCN, HC3N, C2H2, C3H4, and C4H2). The distribution of these tracers allows us to probe dynamical processes occurring within the vortex.
Our results provide compelling evidence that the vortex produces a strong mixing barrier - effectively separating a tracer enriched airmass in the north from air at lower latitudes.
Above the vortex jet (>300km altitude), a tracer depleted zone extends away from the north pole towards the equator and enrichment is confined to high northern latitudes. However, below this level mixing processes cause tongues of gas to extend away from the polar region towards the equator.
These new features of Titan's polar atmosphere are not reproduced by current general circulation models and suggest that a residual polar circulation is present - indicating that waves and instabilities may form a more important part of Titan's atmospheric dynamics than previously thought.
Our analysis builds on previous nadir and limb composition studies and provides the most complete picture so far of processes occurring within the vortex - allowing us to summarise the major dynamical and chemical features of Titan's middle atmospheric circulation.

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