Discovery of fog at the south pole of Titan

Details Discovery of fog at the south pole of Titan Discovery of fog at the south pole of Titan

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p54c..04b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P54C-04

Mathematics

Logic

[6281] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Titan

Scientific paper

While Saturn's moon Titan appears to support an active methane hydrological cycle, no direct evidence for surface-atmosphere exchange has yet appeared. It is possible that the identified lake-features could be filled with ethane, an involatile long term residue of atmospheric photolysis; the apparent stream and channel features could be ancient from a previous climate; and the tropospheric methane clouds, while frequent, could cause no rain to reach the surface. We report here the detection of fog at the south pole of Titan during late summer using observations from the VIMS instrument on board the Cassini spacecraft. While terrestrial fog can form from a variety of causes, most of these processes are inoperable on Titan. Fog on Titan can only be caused by evaporation of liquid methane; the detection of fog provides the first direct link between surface and atmospheric methane. Based on the detections presented here, liquid methane appears widespread at the south pole of Titan in late southern summer, and the hydrolgical cycle on Titan is current active.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Discovery of fog at the south pole of Titan does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Discovery of fog at the south pole of Titan, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Discovery of fog at the south pole of Titan will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1774818