[X] My Assistant

[ngunn]

Compare the predicted view in the latest 'looking ahead'

http://ciclops.org/view/5825/Rev_118

with the nothern hemisphere polar map:

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[ngunn]

With reference to the Ciclops view I wonder if we'll be able to see if the four great 'Siberian rivers' at 9 0'clock (7 o'clock on the second image above) continue all the way to the polar seas?

[titanicrivers]

With reference to the Ciclops view I wonder if we'll be able to see if the four great 'Siberian rivers' at 9 0'clock (7 o'clock on the second image above) continue all the way to the polar seas?

Very neat images!!! Those curvilinear forms seem to gather ‘tributaries’ and head north. However they have been imaged (in T 30) at lower resolution SAR and do not appear very river like. (see image sequence below). Perhaps they are older valleys partially filled in with mid latitude atmospheric deposits; maybe some crustal tectonics produced them rather than running methane torrents. The channel of T 30 seemed to end long before the large lake coastline. Agree additional ISS imaging will be interesting nevertheless.

[ngunn]

Very neat images

Yes, but unlike yourself, Mike and others I don't make them but merely link back to them when relevant.

I agree, it's far too early to say what the 'Siberian rivers' actually are. I only give them that nickname because of their general appearance, scale and geographical location. On the evidence so far I would say they have probably been either formed or modified by liquid flow in a northerly direction, though not necessarily very recently. It will be fascinating to see if the new images confirm or alter this impression. If there is evidence of flow it will also be interesting to compare with the present regional gradient. A global elevation map of Titan was published recently - the one on wich Xanadu surprisingly turned out to be a depression. I'll try to find and post that link if nobody else does first. It would make an interesting additional layer on your excellent composites.

Ah - here's the paper:
https://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/324/5929/921
https://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/324/5929/921

EDIT :I don't have access to the full paper and can't find the Fig 3 elevation map anywhere, except in this tiny version -

Attached image(s)

 

[titanicrivers]

A global elevation map of Titan was published recently - the one on wich Xanadu surprisingly turned out to be a depression. I'll try to find and post that link if nobody else does first. It would make an interesting additional layer on your excellent composites.

An excellent suggestion! I was able to obtain the entire paper and although the paper tends to downplay correlation of surface features with the calculated regional elevations, (excepting the occurrence of lakes at the lower poles), the Titan ellipsoidal surface map does portray higher and lower regions that are of interest. For the "Siberian Rivers" region the surface suggest a higher to lower gradient concordant with the implied direction of flow of these channels as they roughly follow the course of the T30 SAR swath (see below).