[X] My Assistant

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

The mission description is now online (1.0 Mb PDF).

[Juramike]

The E Quivira section of the T23 RADAR Swath shows some pretty impressive channels. The dendritic pattern seems to indicate a southerly flow. There appear to be even large channel networks to the W. These channels would presumably dump into the Aztlan/Senkyo Basin. It is unclear what their origin is: Is this part of Aaru, Fensal, or an interbasin area. If the flow was predominately southward, this implies that Aaru/Fensal or the interbasin was at a higher liquid level than the Aztlan/Senkyo Basin. Weird.




The next section is of the “Playboy Bunny” part. (Might be more appropriate to think of Brer Rabbit in the tarpit – probably closer composition-wise). In the really big section (twisted to horizontal so it would fit better), from left to right are: Dunes galore. Even though this is right at the equator, the dunes show a predominant orientation to the ESE. Not how in the main channel of Aztlan, the dunes are convergent towards mid-channel, yet downwind of the nose of the Playboy Bunny, they appear divergent.

About where the bunny’s head would be, there are some oval bright center objects. These all look like the center part of Coats Facula and may share a common origin. The orientation of the squish appears roughly to the NNE (like Elba Facula and Coats Facula) Near both these features, and all up and down the Bunny head is evidence of large channels, These seem either oriented NS, or EW. There might even be some bright channel streambeds. It will be really neat to get a higher resolution release of this RADAR swath. Most of these channels seem to have an ice margin substrate or are covered in RADAR medium bright cobbles.

There are also a few craters in the Bunny area. (Some craters in the straits of Aztlan were already released in PIA09115.) One is a breached crater (possibly transitioning from single to multiple breached) while the other to the S (or R in the image) is a Degraded crater.





One neat-o feature is what appears to be a tidal channel that would have connected the Elba Facula basin (crater?) with Senkyo. This looks just like the channel seen in the T8 RADAR Swath. Like that channel, this one seems to terminate in a dark terminal flushpool (indicated by purple arrows). A carefully oriented ISS and RADAR comparson shows the tidal channels (red arrows) and the eastern flush pool (blue arrow). It is gratifying to see that the ISS image shows the channel and flush pool as dark areas also, consistent with them being low lying.

The southern area in this graphic shows two bright areas that might be parallel tectonic ridges, with what might have once been another channel, now filled in with ice sand or other RADAR medium bright material, in between them.

A recurring theme in the the Equatorial Sand Seas seem to be iinterconnections by straits, channels, and sounds. Titan has a lot of shoreline.




Continuing further south, there is an area of rotten terrain like we saw at the intersection of the T25/T3 Swaths. This is apparent on RADAR by the broken and mottled appearance of the terrain. As if Titan were made of Swiss cheese (might even match VIMS data and be consistent with dielectric constant data– anyone check?) This area also looks different in the ISS image. To the SE of this rotted terrain in the ISS image is an enigmatic black spot that unfortunately just got missed by the RADAR Swath.

-Mike

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[JRehling]

Hey, that's fantastic with the tidal channels. Titan has the prospect of really high tides, and with the generally flat topography, there could be some large areas that were periodically washed out, and looking for the effects of tidal flow could tell us a lot about the history of the aquifer level.

It's excruciatingly tantalizing to ponder when these sand seas were last methane seas. 2002? 1995? 10,000 BC? It seems beyond reach that seasonal rains could flood such a large area in the current epoch, but maybe part or all could be submerged during the XXM.