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T16 RADAR SAR Swath, Land o' lakes
volcanopele
post Jul 24 2006, 09:33 PM
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Much to my surprise, a chunk of the T16 Sar swath as been released:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08630

An abundance of lakes can been seen. Some appear to be crater lakes (or sinkholes), like the lake at far left on the top cutout. That lake appears similar to Crater Lake in Oregon, with a little island in the middle (you can kinda see the attenuation of the signal surrounding the island as the methane gets deeper). Some lakes appear quite distinctive from the surrounding terrain, like the features on the right part of the bottom cutout.


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Thorsten
post Jul 28 2006, 08:25 AM
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I’m a little puzzled by the latest News Release on the T16 RADAR swath:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-rele....cfm?newsID=679

Cassini scientist are now quite confident that at least some of the radar dark spots are indeed lakes (which is great!). They further state that “the lakes are most likely the source of hydrocarbon smog in the frigid moon's atmosphere”.

I thought that the hydrocarbon smog was generally hypothesized to originiate from organic molecules formed by photodissociation of methane in Titan’s upper atmosphere. So do they presume that the hydrocarbon smog comes indirectly from methane evaporating from the polar lakes and thus replenishing Titan's methane atmosphere?
Are these comparatively small lakes really sufficient to replenish the atmospheric methane? At the northern hemisphere, they seem to be quite restricted the latitudes above 75 degrees. Furthermore, some of these “lakes” appear to be only partly wet at the moment and probably do not harbor large quantities of liquid methane.
Isn’t it still more likely that methane from Titan’s interior (released by cryovolcanoes, low temperature serpentinization, whatever) prevents the atmospheric methane depletion? At least, there is some circumstantial evidence for volcanic activity, like the detection of 40Ar by Huygens’ GCMS.
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ugordan
post Jul 28 2006, 09:04 AM
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QUOTE (Thorsten @ Jul 28 2006, 09:25 AM) *
I’m a little puzzled by the latest News Release on the T16 RADAR swath:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-rele....cfm?newsID=679

Cassini scientist are now quite confident that at least some of the radar dark spots are indeed lakes (which is great!). They further state that “the lakes are most likely the source of hydrocarbon smog in the frigid moon's atmosphere”.

That statement caught my eye, too. I think that's stretching it a bit. The lakes contain methane which in turn evaporates into the atmosphere where it's broken down by UV light to produce smog. So technically, they are the source of the smog (not a direct source, though!). The wording is a bit awkward.

I agree with you on the point of lakes being just a temporary reservoir of methane, cryovolcanism is probably the mechanism by which Titan's methane is replenished. Without it, the lakes would eventually all dry up because all methane would be destroyed on a fairly short timescale.
That is, unless there's actually a vast reservoir of methane hiding below the surface. The question would then be: where'd THAT come from?


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tty
post Jul 28 2006, 10:33 AM
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QUOTE (ugordan @ Jul 28 2006, 11:04 AM) *
That is, unless there's actually a vast reservoir of methane hiding below the surface. The question would then be: where'd THAT come from?


It may have been there since Titan formed. Like the old lady said "It's turtles all the way down" smile.gif

tty
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angel1801
post Aug 8 2006, 02:55 PM
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Just one simple question. When will we able to see the whole T16 SAR swath?

I know it started at about 53S latitude and almost reached the north pole of Titan.

And we have only seen the bits near the north pole!


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Posts in this topic
- volcanopele   T16 RADAR SAR Swath   Jul 24 2006, 09:33 PM
- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (volcanopele @ Jul 24 2006, 11:33 A...   Jul 24 2006, 09:39 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (AlexBlackwell @ Jul 24 2006, 02:39...   Jul 25 2006, 03:25 AM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (JRehling @ Jul 24 2006, 05:25 PM) ...   Jul 25 2006, 06:15 PM
|- - volcanopele   QUOTE (AlexBlackwell @ Jul 25 2006, 11:15...   Aug 1 2006, 04:42 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (volcanopele @ Aug 1 2006, 09:42 AM...   Aug 8 2006, 05:51 PM
|- - volcanopele   QUOTE (JRehling @ Aug 8 2006, 10:51 AM) D...   Aug 8 2006, 06:26 PM
|- - Sunspot   QUOTE (volcanopele @ Aug 8 2006, 07:26 PM...   Aug 8 2006, 09:56 PM
- - volcanopele   Was that me? I forget now But to be honest, the...   Jul 24 2006, 09:42 PM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (volcanopele @ Jul 24 2006, 11:42 A...   Jul 24 2006, 09:45 PM
- - ugordan   Wow, this is it! Finally here we have a body ...   Jul 24 2006, 09:47 PM
- - David   This is fantastic stuff. I'd be even happier ...   Jul 24 2006, 09:48 PM
- - djellison   The largest body in the top right actually has som...   Jul 24 2006, 09:59 PM
- - The Messenger   Can it be stated with certainty that these are not...   Jul 24 2006, 10:02 PM
- - volcanopele   They do get radiometry at the same time they acqui...   Jul 24 2006, 10:20 PM
- - belleraphon1   To quote Emily from her Planetary Society blog ...   Jul 24 2006, 11:18 PM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (belleraphon1 @ Jul 24 2006, 01:18 ...   Jul 25 2006, 01:23 AM
|- - David   QUOTE (AlexBlackwell @ Jul 25 2006, 01:23...   Jul 25 2006, 01:25 AM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (David @ Jul 24 2006, 03:25 PM) Whe...   Jul 25 2006, 01:30 AM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (David @ Jul 24 2006, 06:25 PM) Als...   Jul 25 2006, 11:45 AM
|- - David   QUOTE (JRehling @ Jul 25 2006, 11:45 AM) ...   Jul 25 2006, 12:00 PM
|- - The Messenger   QUOTE (David @ Jul 25 2006, 06:00 AM) Hm....   Jul 25 2006, 01:35 PM
||- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (The Messenger @ Jul 25 2006, 09:35...   Jul 25 2006, 01:53 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (David @ Jul 25 2006, 05:00 AM) Hm....   Jul 25 2006, 03:36 PM
- - Rob Pinnegar   Okay. Let's assume that these are lakes. The...   Jul 24 2006, 11:31 PM
- - belleraphon1   Agree here with Rob... Close up monitoring of th...   Jul 24 2006, 11:50 PM
|- - Bjorn Jonsson   Now Titan is even more interesting than before, an...   Jul 25 2006, 12:26 AM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (Bjorn Jonsson @ Jul 24 2006, 05:26...   Jul 25 2006, 03:37 AM
|- - qraal   Hi All Lacustrine wannabes at last! QUOTE (J...   Jul 25 2006, 11:36 AM
||- - Bjorn Jonsson   QUOTE (qraal @ Jul 25 2006, 11:36 AM) Has...   Jul 25 2006, 11:38 AM
||- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (Bjorn Jonsson @ Jul 25 2006, 01:38...   Jul 25 2006, 05:43 PM
|- - Holder of the Two Leashes   QUOTE (JRehling @ Jul 24 2006, 10:37 PM) ...   Jul 25 2006, 07:08 PM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (Holder of the Two Leashes @ Jul 25 200...   Jul 25 2006, 09:09 PM
|- - Holder of the Two Leashes   QUOTE (AlexBlackwell @ Jul 25 2006, 04:09...   Jul 25 2006, 09:37 PM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (Holder of the Two Leashes @ Jul 25 200...   Jul 25 2006, 09:43 PM
- - Decepticon   Does this radar swath go over the north pole? I...   Jul 25 2006, 01:00 AM
- - volcanopele   Unfortunately, it is very difficult to search for ...   Jul 25 2006, 02:08 AM
- - volcanopele   Note: South is up in both cutouts in the release, ...   Jul 25 2006, 02:19 AM
- - Olvegg   And what about translucency of luiqud for radar be...   Jul 25 2006, 05:08 PM
- - Myran   When UMSF got so slow yesterday I wondered if some...   Jul 25 2006, 09:00 PM
- - Matt   Just imagine what it would be like to be walking t...   Jul 25 2006, 10:07 PM
|- - Stu   QUOTE (Matt @ Jul 25 2006, 10:07 PM) Just...   Jul 25 2006, 10:19 PM
||- - JRehling   In terms of Titanian skygazing, note that the rati...   Jul 25 2006, 10:41 PM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (Matt @ Jul 25 2006, 12:07 PM) Just...   Jul 25 2006, 10:22 PM
- - Thorsten   I’m a little puzzled by the latest News Release on...   Jul 28 2006, 08:25 AM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (Thorsten @ Jul 28 2006, 09:25 AM) ...   Jul 28 2006, 09:04 AM
|- - tty   QUOTE (ugordan @ Jul 28 2006, 11:04 AM) T...   Jul 28 2006, 10:33 AM
|- - angel1801   Just one simple question. When will we able to see...   Aug 8 2006, 02:55 PM
- - volcanopele   Best case scenario would probably be in October, e...   Aug 8 2006, 02:59 PM
|- - Sunspot   QUOTE (volcanopele @ Aug 8 2006, 03:59 PM...   Aug 8 2006, 06:17 PM
- - Big_Gazza   QUOTE (JRehling @ Jul 26 2006, 08:41 AM) ...   Aug 9 2006, 02:59 AM
|- - Thorsten   QUOTE (Big_Gazza @ Aug 9 2006, 04:59 AM) ...   Aug 9 2006, 06:19 AM
- - Bill Harris   I wonder how long twilight lasts on Titan? On Ear...   Aug 9 2006, 01:02 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (Bill Harris @ Aug 9 2006, 06:02 AM...   Aug 9 2006, 03:10 PM
- - Rob Pinnegar   More importantly, Titan turns on its axis only onc...   Aug 9 2006, 05:53 PM
- - ngunn   Bill's question is interesting. As he refers ...   Aug 10 2006, 09:57 AM
- - Matt   Anybody know anything about T17 yet? It sounds li...   Aug 27 2006, 10:30 AM
- - Thorsten   Apologies if this has been posted before, but ther...   Aug 31 2006, 11:57 AM


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