Titan's changing lakes Options

[ngunn]

Today's big news?
http://ciclops.org/view/5471/CASSINI_FINDS...ILL_TITAN_LAKES

Changes in the south polar region were announced late last year. Is there more to this story now??

[ngunn]

Personal anecdote: perhaps not many people remember their 57th birthday as one of the best. I do. Not only did we have this VIMS observation of northern lakeshine, but also the Ontario SAR:

Ontario Lacus......... at last

The SAR of Ontario Lacus was long expected and advertised, but the VIMS Kraken Mare specular reflection was not mentioned in the July 8 Mission Description or in the 'Looking Ahead'. I wonder if it also was expected, or purely serendipitous?

[Jason W Barnes]

The SAR of Ontario Lacus was long expected and advertised, but the VIMS Kraken Mare specular reflection was not mentioned in the July 8 Mission Description or in the 'Looking Ahead'. I wonder if it also was expected, or purely serendipitous?

I guess if those are the only two options, then it's "serendipitous". We have been looking for specular reflections all the time, but haven't seen any -- the reason of course is that the Sun hasn't been shining on the wet places (Ontario excepted). So while we look at the images and keep specular in mind, we haven't before designed a sequence around it. Now that we've found one and see how totally cool it is, though, and what great science can be done with it, we're looking for opportunities in the future to do a planned specular campaign. It all depends on the spacecraft geometry, though, so we pretty much just have to wait for the right time.

- Jason