JID:YICAR AID:7977 /FLA [m5+; v 1.62; Prn:17/07/2006; 15:09] P.1 (1-7) Abstract Icarus •• • (••••) •••–••• Dissipation of Titan’s south polar clouds

of the south pole. We report here on a dissipation of Titan’s south polar clouds observed in twenty-nine Keck and Gemini images taken between December 2004 and April 2005. The near complete lack of south polar cloud activity during this time, and subsequent resurgence months later at generally highe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Emily L. Schaller A, Michael E. Brown A, Henry G. Roe A, Antonin H. Bouchez B, Chadwick A. Trujillo C
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2006
Subjects:
Titan
Infrared observations
Atmospheres
dynamics
Meteorology
Gemini
South Pole
South pole
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.73.2428
http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/papers/ps/Titan_clouds2.pdf
Description
Summary:of the south pole. We report here on a dissipation of Titan’s south polar clouds observed in twenty-nine Keck and Gemini images taken between December 2004 and April 2005. The near complete lack of south polar cloud activity during this time, and subsequent resurgence months later at generally higher latitudes, may be the beginning of seasonal change in Titan’s weather. The ∼5 month decrease in cloud activity may also have been caused by methane rainout from a large cloud event in October 2004. Understanding the seasonal evolution of Titan’s clouds, and of any precipitation associated with them, is essential for interpreting the geological observations of fluid flow features observed over a wide range of Titan latitudes with the Cassini/Huygens spacecraft. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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