Surface Temperatures on Titan: Changes During the Cassini Mission

Details Surface Temperatures on Titan: Changes During the Cassini Mission Surface Temperatures on Titan: Changes During the Cassini Mission

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.6101j&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #61.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1088

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Surface brightness temperatures on Titan measured by the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) aboard Cassini span the period from late northern winter to early spring. CIRS previously reported surface temperatures from the earlier portion of the mission (2004-08) that showed a temperature of 93.7 K at the equator with decreases of 2 K toward the south pole and 3 K toward the north pole (1). From a comparison of the equinox period with data from the earlier period, CIRS now detects a seasonal shift in the latitudinal distribution of temperatures. Around the time of the equinox the meridional distribution was more symmetric about the equator than had been found earlier in the mission. At equinox the equatorial surface temperatures remained close to 94 K, but in the south the temperatures had decreased by about 0.5 K and in the north had increased by about 0.5 K. The CIRS equinox results are similar to what was seen near the previous northern vernal equinox by Voyager IRIS (2, 3). The observed surface temperatures can help constrain the type of surface material by comparison with predictions from general circulation models. Of the three cases treated by Tokano (4), our measurements most closely match a porous-icy regolith. As Cassini continues through Titan's northern spring CIRS will extend its temporal and spatial coverage and will continue to search for seasonal variations in surface temperature.
(1)Jennings et al., Astrophysical Journal Letters 69, L103 (2009).
(2)Flasar, F. M., Samuelson, R. E., & Conrath, B. J., Nature 292, 693 (1981).
(3)Courtin, R., & Kim, S. J., Planetary and Space Science 50, 309 (2002).
(4)Tokano, T., Icarus 204, 619 (2005).

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