Titan's North Polar Region: Lake Distribution, Statistics, and Implied Methane Hydrology from Cassini SAR

Details Titan's North Polar Region: Lake Distribution, Statistics, and Implied Methane Hydrology from Cassini SAR Titan's North Polar Region: Lake Distribution, Statistics, and Implied Methane Hydrology from Cassini SAR

Oct 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.4402h&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #44.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.500

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Recent observations of Titan's Surface from Cassini's Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) have revealed quasi-circular to complex features which are interpreted as liquid hydrocarbon lakes (Stofan et al., 2007). We use the global distribution of lake features to investigate methane transport in Titan's hydrologic cycle, which includes atmospheric, surface, and sub-surface interaction. Specifically, the latitudinal and longitudinal division of hydrocarbon lakes combined with derived topographic information is used to model subsurface transport and place limitations on the properties of an isotropic porous regolith. Our analysis of the dataset, which covers 22% of the surface, has led to the identification of multiple lake morphologies which are correlated across the polar region. Radar dark lake features are limited to latitudes above 65°N and vary in size from the limits of observation (a few km2) to more than 100,000 km2. Granular and sub-granular lake features, which are distinguished by increased radar backscatter relative to their surroundings as compared to dark lakes, can be found as low as 55°N. Sub-granular lake features are inferred to be empty basins while granular lake features are interpreted as transitional between dark and sub-granular. The orientation, size, and statistical correlations between dark, granular, and sub-granular lake features provide constraints on precipitation conditions and the importance of subsurface transport. Using preliminary porous media properties inferred from Huygens probe results at 10°S, timescales for flow between observed dark and empty lakes are calculated by solving the groundwater flow equation. Derived lake equilibration timescales are compared to the time between collocated SAR observations in order to place limitations on the permeability of an isotropic porous regolith. For permeabilities of 10-5cm2, equilibrium timescales are found to be in the 10's of years and are similar to Titan's seasonal cycles and lake evaporation estimates (Mitri et al., 2007).

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