Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
Dec 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004dps....36.2017b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #36, #20.17; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 36, p.1117
Physics
Optics
Scientific paper
We report preliminary results of the Keck Observatory Titan Monitoring Project, a long-term atmospheric observing campaign carried out using the adaptive optics system on the Keck II telescope. High spatial resolution near-infrared images of Titan were acquired on 21 nights during the 2003--2004 apparition, and on 4 nights thus far since early September 2004. This rich dataset reveals the formation frequency, size distribution, and lifetime of tropospheric methane clouds at Titan's south pole and in a band at 30S--40S, as well as the wind speed and direction at 35S.
Two very large methane storm were observed at Titan's south pole during the period covered by these observations, blanketing up to 7% of the disk in optically thick clouds and raising the disk-integrated K flux by up to 15% for a period of several days. Most images, however, show the more typical state of a small region of scattered clouds near the south pole, covering <1% of the disk. While the polar clouds are most likely caused by moist convection triggered by the heating of Titan's surface during southern summer, the immediate cause of the unusually large storms remains unknown.
Since early September 2004 a new region of tropospheric clouds has appeared in a distinct band between 30 and 40S. Their location and the timing of their appearance is consistent with a change in the global circulation pattern of Titan's atmosphere as the insolation at lower latitudes increases approaching equinox. Tracking the motion of individual clouds in this band, we find that the wind between 10 and 30 km altitude is 9±1 m/s in a prograde direction.
Bouchez Antonin H.
Brown Michael E.
Roe Henry Garfitt
Schaller Emily L.
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