[X] My Assistant

[remcook]

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...fm?imageID=2470
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-rele....cfm?newsID=720

cooool

[remcook]

The clouds are predicted based on circulation and temperature. First of all, the north is very cold now, as it is winter there, and there is lots of cooling from gases (gases are enriched in the orth compared to anywhere else) that emit infrared radiation.
Then, there is a large downward movement of atmosphere in the north (opposed to the south, where there is upward movement). Because most molecules in Titan's atmosphere are produced at high altitudes by photochemistry, these gases are enriched at higher altitudes. The downward motion brings down the enriched 'air' to where temperatures are colder. This causes condensation (cloud formation). This is the proposed cloud formation process for stratospheric clouds like the ethane cloud of Griffith et al. The clouds produce rain, which would give lakes. In the south, this process happened a few years ago. Some lakes may be left over from this. Also, in the south there are these tropospheric storms that Cassini saw when it arrived.

[ustrax]

According to Christophe Sotin (VIMS)

"We will try to get another radar image at the end of the extended mission (2010) in order to compare the level of material in the lakes."