Titan's Atmospheric Structure from Cassini CIRS Observations

Details Titan's Atmospheric Structure from Cassini CIRS Observations Titan's Atmospheric Structure from Cassini CIRS Observations

Sep 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.3201f&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #32.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.543

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We summarize results on temperatures, winds, and the distribution of gaseous constituents and condensates in Titan's atmosphere from observations in the thermal infrared with the Composite Infrared Spectrometer. Nadir and limb observations indicate that the stratosphere near 1 mbar is warmest at low latitudes, with the south pole a few degrees colder and the north pole in winter night 20 K colder. Associated with the cold northern temperatures is a strong circumpolar wind system with speeds as high as 160 m/s. Within this vortex, the mixing ratios of several organic gases are enhanced relative to those at low latitudes. Limb observations indicate that the concentrations of many of these gases are more uniformly distributed with altitude between 0.1 and 1 mbar at high northern latitudes than at low latitudes, suggesting undiluted descent in the polar region. The stratopause height increases from 0.1-mbar near the equator to 0.01-mbar near the north pole, where it is the warmest part of the atmosphere. This also implies subsidence at the pole, with vertical velocities -1 mm/s. Several condensates have been detected within the CIRS spectra at high northern latitudes, not all of them identified. Many of the characteristics of Titan's winter polar vortex are similar to Earth's, which is remarkable, given that Titan's stratospheric zonal winds are cyclostrophic (i.e., they are much larger than the moon's equatorial rotation speed), whereas Earth's winds are geostrophic.

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