Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: AlexBlackwell Jul 18 2006, 08:35 PM

From the August 2006 issue of Icarus:

A tidal explanation for the Titan haze layers
Richard L. Walterscheid and Gerald Schubert
Icarus 183, 471-478 (2006).
http://makeashorterlink.com/?A1D616D6D

Posted by: Richard Trigaux Jul 19 2006, 10:08 AM

What I have noticed strange is that the upper atmosphere haze layer (the outermost one, which appears bluish and transparent, not the thick orange opaque layers) seems to rise from the north pole. This movement was even visible from a Cassini image to the other (in the same pass). They even published a movie of it: clearly the haze rises from the north pole and the spreads out all around the planet.

We should rather expect it of raising from the south pole, which is now in the summer side, and where numerous cumulus-like clouds were seen, telling us of a large ascending movement in this region, at least in the lowest layer. So we should expect that this movement would go, from layer to layer, up to the highest layer of blue haze. It is the countrary which is seen, we see the haze raising from the north pole, where we expect the lower layers are falling.

So there must be another mechanism explaining this ascending haze, not just convection. Tides? This is an interesting idea, but, if so, why it works only in the north pole?

Posted by: AlexBlackwell Jul 19 2006, 09:13 PM

Perhaps Titan's rotational tidal mode is (de)coupled with the gravitational tidal mode analyzed by the two authors? This could produce an effect that might manifest itself seasonally or perhaps even secularly.