Titan's changing lakes Options

[HughFromAlice]

See if I can get this link ....to work!

This one works fine! A treasure trove! 50+ orals on Titan alone! I'd love to see this presentation on Oct 6th........ 21.03 - Further Constraints on the Smoothness of Ontario Lacus using Cassini RADAR Specular Reflection Data. Wye et al.

For anyone wanting an overview - book accom etc. go to http://dps09.naic.edu/ Wish I had the time. Long way to go from here!

[volcanopele]

Well, hopefully they will broadcast the oral sessions online like they did last year.

[ngunn]

This presentation will compare apparent shorelines for the whole lake between 2005 and 2009, but also relevant is the partial VIMS view from T38 so perhaps this is a good place to repost the link to that paper:

http://www.barnesos.net/publications/paper...s.Shoreline.pdf

For at least part of the shoreline we should have a nicely spaced 3 stage progression - ISS 2005, VIMS 2007 and SAR 2009. It will be particulatly interesting to see how the SAR fits with the detailed interpreations of the shoreline features offered in the VIMS paper.

[Olvegg]

NASA Cassini Radar Observes Seasonal Change in Titan's North Pole
New Evidence of Seasonal Change on Titan

[ngunn]

Spectacular changes - and so plain to see! (No peering hard at these images to make out what the scientists are talking about.)

Spaceref seems to be suffering from bipolar disorder though, given that the actual title of the CalTech press release was:
'Cassini RADAR Observes Seasonal Change in Titan's South Pole'.

[ngunn]

I am trying to post the VIMS image of the bottom right end of the lake but spectacularly failing - either to copy or attach it, so this is the best I can do.

Go up to post 48, open the Barnes paper and scroll down to page 5. There I think you will see the islands near the mouth of that river that also appear in the SAR, along with a caption outlining the VIMS team's interpretation of the shoreline features. At first glance the VIMS data and interpretation dovetails fine with the ISS/RADAR story.

[volcanopele]

I think the ISS/VIMS/RADAR story is coming along nicely. It definitely seems clear that the observed paucity of lakes in the south and the abundance in the north noted by RADAR seems to be due seasonal bias: the north is in its wet season, and thus has more filled lakes, while the south is it its dry season where the lakes generally dry up (temporary fillings due to storms not withstanding, as seen by ISS 2004/2005). By the end of the XXM perhaps we will see the opposite pattern, an abundance of filling lakes in the south, and shrinking lakes in the north. Kraken Mare may slowly become a mudflat, and Mezzoramia "Mare" may become the great southern sea.

[ngunn]

Link from remcook:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=A...9c22eeb4cd844bd

The abstract contains the statement that the lakes fill up due to precipitaion in summer and dry out by evaporation in winter. Any comments?

[volcanopele]

I guess my comment is that I think they have it backwards...

[titanicrivers]

NASA Cassini Radar Observes Seasonal Change in Titan's North Pole
New Evidence of Seasonal Change on Titan

HA! Check out my post in the SAR 48-49 thread, post # 6 placed on Oct 3rd. I showed the same change in the lakes comparing the T36 and T49 overlap region as is discussed in the second paper in Olvegg's post above! While I thought the change from radar dark to radar bright in the floor of these small pothole lakes or calderas might be a seasonal drying up effect I wasn't really sure. This seems to be the radar teams reasoning as well.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

How wide is thay channel where it appears to open out into the lake?

[Webscientist]

I think the ISS/VIMS/RADAR story is coming along nicely. It definitely seems clear that the observed paucity of lakes in the south and the abundance in the north noted by RADAR seems to be due seasonal bias: the north is in its wet season, and thus has more filled lakes, while the south is it its dry season where the lakes generally dry up (temporary fillings due to storms not withstanding, as seen by ISS 2004/2005). By the end of the XXM perhaps we will see the opposite pattern, an abundance of filling lakes in the south, and shrinking lakes in the north. Kraken Mare may slowly become a mudflat, and Mezzoramia "Mare" may become the great southern sea.

So, the next probe may not choose the north polar lakes or seas for its landing site!

Indeed, Mezzoramia may become the Kraken Mare of the south polar region.

The Huygens probe may become a wreck in the depth of the potential sea which is likely to take shape as the giant ethane cloud ( currently engulfing the north pole) migrates toward the south.

[volcanopele]

The landing site might depend on the season when the boat would land yes, but I think what is perhaps most clear is that we need to observe Titan over more of its year before we take even what I said as gospel truth.

As far as the fate of Hugyens, keep in mind that the ethane cloud doesn't literally migrate. As spring progress it will likely just fade in the north and form up in the south rather than actually moving between poles.

[nprev]

Hmm. It does seem as if the 'desert' equatorial regions get some gully-washer storms, though. Huygens sure looks like it's sitting in a flood channel...maybe an arroyo?

Would expect such storms to start popping as the season change progresses, if they happen with any regularity at all.

[volcanopele]

Yeah, and storms are not unheard of at the latitude of the Huygens probe, but not that giant ethane cloud at the north pole.