Saturn's Satellite Titan: Evidence for active surface processes

Details Saturn's Satellite Titan: Evidence for active surface processes Saturn's Satellite Titan: Evidence for active surface processes

Aug 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007epsc.conf..628n&link_type=abstract

European Planetary Science Congress 2007, Proceedings of a conference held 20-24 August, 2007 in Potsdam, Germany. Online at ht

Computer Science

Scientific paper

The VIMS instrument on the Cassini spacecraft has observed surface of Titan through spectral 'windows' in its atmosphere where methane the principal absorbing gas is transmitting. We have found that the reflectance of a region on Titan's surface (latitude 26S, longitude 78W) increased twofold between July 2004 and March-April 2005. It then returned to the July 2004 level by November 2005. By late December 2005 the reflectance had surged upward again to a new maximum. It then declined for the next three months. Detailed analyses indicate that the changes are a surface phenomenon, making these the first changes seen on Titan's surface. The spectral differences between the region and its surroundings rule out the ices of H2O, CO2, H2S, HCl, N20, NO2, (NH4)2CO3, NH4HS and CH4as possible causes. Remarkably, the change is spectrally consistent with the deposition and removal of NH3over an H20 substrate. NH3 has been proposed as a constituent of Titan's interior but not its surface or atmosphere. This transitory NH3 spectral signature is consistent with occasional effusion events in which juvenile ammonia is brought to the surface. Its decomposition may feed nitrogen to the atmosphere. The size of the region suggests it may exceed the size of the largest active volcanic areas in the solar system. This work done at JPL/CALTECH under contract with NASA

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