Seasonal Changes in Titan's Surface Temperatures

Details Seasonal Changes in Titan's Surface Temperatures Seasonal Changes in Titan's Surface Temperatures

Aug 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011apj...737l..15j&link_type=abstract

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 737, Issue 1, article id. L15 (2011).

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Planets And Satellites: Individual: Titan, Planets And Satellites: Surfaces, Radiation Mechanisms: Thermal, Radiative Transfer

Scientific paper

Seasonal changes in Titan's surface brightness temperatures have been observed by Cassini in the thermal infrared. The Composite Infrared Spectrometer measured surface radiances at 19 μm in two time periods: one in late northern winter (LNW; Ls = 335°) and another centered on northern spring equinox (NSE; Ls = 0°). In both periods we constructed pole-to-pole maps of zonally averaged brightness temperatures corrected for effects of the atmosphere. Between LNW and NSE a shift occurred in the temperature distribution, characterized by a warming of ~0.5 K in the north and a cooling by about the same amount in the south. At equinox the polar surface temperatures were both near 91 K and the equator was at 93.4 K. We measured a seasonal lag of ΔLS ~ 9° in the meridional surface temperature distribution, consistent with the post-equinox results of Voyager 1 as well as with predictions from general circulation modeling. A slightly elevated temperature is observed at 65° S in the relatively cloud-free zone between the mid-latitude and southern cloud regions.

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