[X] My Assistant

[volcanopele]

I hate to say this, try IE. Seems to work better there.

Just an advertisement for the talk I provided the most work for, Zibi Turtle's talk at 9:30am in the Titan Lower atmosphere session. I doubt you will be disappointed.

EDIT: That should be 11:30am EDT

Reason for edit: time wrong

[Juramike]

What can stay afloat in liquid methane? Well, something less dense than the liquid - maybe something with liquid and air. For example (my favorite), how about a chunk of clathrate with gas-filled micropores? ("Cryopumice"). Or some type of frothy, foamy organic material. (BTW, foaming can be a MAJOR problem in large scale chemical plants).

What can stay suspended in liquid methane is probably a much easier question. Heck, I'm not even convinced that the hydrocarbon lakes have a low density (or viscosity for that matter). With your paint analogy, there could be some organic goop suspended around in a yukky organic mess. The whole lake could be a big emulsion (which could also change evaporation rates).

The key is that there needs to be IR reflection, at least in the 2 micron area.

Now the other question is: if the lake liquid is so thin, how come RADAR isn't able to penetrate it? Or is RADAR hitting an absorbing(diffusing) subsurface layer as well? (AFAIK, RADAR hasn't yet gone over Ontario Lacus, I'm extrapolating from the northern lakes).

My picture of a Titan lake is now of a flat, black, hydrocarbon emulsion/suspension.

-Mike

[Yup, I agree, the last few posts should be put over to the Titan subforum, probably the "Titan's Lakes Revealed thread", starting from VP's post #12]