Other
Scientific paper
Mar 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997lpi....28..833l&link_type=abstract
Conference Paper, 28th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, p. 833.
Other
Titan, Satellite Atmospheres, Surface Temperature, Tides, Greenhouse Effect, Methane, Photochemical Reactions, Solar Radiation
Scientific paper
Titan's atmosphere may have collapsed in the past due to the photolytic depletion of methane and loss of greenhouse warming. We investigate whether geothermal or other heat sources could prevent this early in Titan's history, and find this is unlikely: solar evolution and the availability of methane at the surface are the dominant drivers of climate evolution. We find, however, that ocean-atmosphere feedbacks could cause tidal dissipation in a shallow ocean to accelerate and boil off most of the volatile component of an ocean, leading to inhomogeneities of composition among surface liquid reservoirs. In terms of surface pressure and dominant constituent, Titan's is the most Earth-like atmosphere in the solar system. However, it differs in the much lower insolation it receives and in its reducing nature (rather than oxygen, its second principal constituent is methane). Methane photochemistry gives rise to a number of organic gases in the atmosphere, a thick organic haze, and hydrogen.
Lorenz Ralph D.
Lunine Jonathan I.
McKay Chris P.
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