[X] My Assistant

[ngunn]

The new 'looking ahead' with T39:
http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=4689

[belleraphon1]

rlorenz...

understood..... space exploration takes patience. As a layman I have learned that in spades.

REALLY interested in this SAR. I think Titan's southern equinox occured in 1994?. Sunlight has been bathing the pole for almost 13 years. So are there lakes here at the south pole that have been filled by the summer solar intensity release of latent heat and monsoon downpours, while , in the north, the long dark spell has allowed the lakes to sit intact.

Is the equatorial region, in this epoch, always too warm for stable lakes?

Clumsy way of wanting to say, what role do the seasons play in the methanological cycle?

I thinks the onset of southern pole monsoons were captured in 1995 with a big cloud outburst.....

CASSINI needs XXM mission just to watch the seasonal play on this world.

Craig

[rlorenz]

....REALLY interested in this SAR. I think Titan's southern equinox occured in 1994?.....Is the equatorial region, in this epoch, always too warm for stable lakes? ....I thinks the onset of southern pole monsoons were captured in 1995 with a big cloud outburst..........CASSINI needs XXM mission just to watch the seasonal play on this world.

S Equinox was in 2002-2003Not clear why there are no equatorial lakes - could be too dry/warm methanewise, could be because lakes are at the pole(s) because the winter stratospheric downwelling brings ethanedown to high latitudes preferentially, could be because the poles are lower in elevation, all ofthe above, or something we havent thought of yetso yes, everyone is interested in this SAR....Caitlin Griffith made first spectroscopic detection of clouds on Titan with the 1995 outburst. But an HST observation very close to that time (just a couple of weeks different, so maybethe same outburst) shows cloud system at 40 degrees NORTH - nowhere near the south pole(there is a map showing this cloud in Lifting Titan's Veil..)So yes, XXM and a follow-on mission will have a lot to see as the seasons change

S Equinox was in 2002-2003

What am I saying.? Southern Summer Solstice was 2002-2003.Southern Spring Equinox was 1995