Observational Evidence for Summer Rainfall at Titan's North Pole
Abstract Methane rain on Saturn's moon Titan makes it the only place, other than Earth, where rain interacts with the surface. When and where that rain wets the surface changes seasonally in ways that remain poorly understood. Here we report the discovery of a bright ephemeral feature covering...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2019-02-01
|
| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL080943 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850272612340465664 |
|---|---|
| author | Rajani D. Dhingra Jason W. Barnes Robert H. Brown Bonnie J. Burrati Christophe Sotin Phillip D. Nicholson Kevin H. Baines Roger N. Clark Jason M. Soderblom Ralf Jauman Sebastien Rodriguez Stéphane Le Mouélic Elizabeth P. Turtle Jason E. Perry Valeria Cottini Don E. Jennings |
| author_facet | Rajani D. Dhingra Jason W. Barnes Robert H. Brown Bonnie J. Burrati Christophe Sotin Phillip D. Nicholson Kevin H. Baines Roger N. Clark Jason M. Soderblom Ralf Jauman Sebastien Rodriguez Stéphane Le Mouélic Elizabeth P. Turtle Jason E. Perry Valeria Cottini Don E. Jennings |
| author_sort | Rajani D. Dhingra |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Methane rain on Saturn's moon Titan makes it the only place, other than Earth, where rain interacts with the surface. When and where that rain wets the surface changes seasonally in ways that remain poorly understood. Here we report the discovery of a bright ephemeral feature covering an area of 120,000 km2 near Titan's north pole in observations from Cassini's near‐infrared instrument, Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer on 7 June 2016. Based on the overall brightness, spectral characteristics, and geologic context, we attribute this new feature to specular reflections from a rain‐wetted solid surface like those off of a sunlit wet sidewalk. The reported observation is the first documented rainfall event at Titan's north pole and heralds the arrival of the northern summer (through climatic evidence), which has been delayed relative to model predictions. This detection helps constrain Titan's seasonal change and shows that the “wet‐sidewalk effect can be used to identify other rain events.” |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2a2c71c363a646fb8637fdd9816e0e32 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-02-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-2a2c71c363a646fb8637fdd9816e0e322025-08-20T01:51:45ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072019-02-014631205121210.1029/2018GL080943Observational Evidence for Summer Rainfall at Titan's North PoleRajani D. Dhingra0Jason W. Barnes1Robert H. Brown2Bonnie J. Burrati3Christophe Sotin4Phillip D. Nicholson5Kevin H. Baines6Roger N. Clark7Jason M. Soderblom8Ralf Jauman9Sebastien Rodriguez10Stéphane Le Mouélic11Elizabeth P. Turtle12Jason E. Perry13Valeria Cottini14Don E. Jennings15Department of Physics University of Idaho Moscow ID USADepartment of Physics University of Idaho Moscow ID USADepartment of Planetary Sciences University of Arizona TucsonAZ USAJet Propulsion Laboratory Caltech Pasadena CA USAJet Propulsion Laboratory Caltech Pasadena CA USAAstronomy Department Cornell University Ithaca NY USASpace Science and Engineering Center University of Wisconsin‐Madison Madison WI USAPlanetary Science Institute Tucson AZ USADepartment of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USADeutsches Zentrum fr Luft‐ und Raumfahrt Cologne GermanyInstitut de Physique du Globe de Paris Paris FranceDepartment of Physics University of Idaho Moscow ID USADepartment of Physics University of Idaho Moscow ID USADepartment of Physics University of Idaho Moscow ID USADepartment of Physics University of Idaho Moscow ID USADepartment of Physics University of Idaho Moscow ID USAAbstract Methane rain on Saturn's moon Titan makes it the only place, other than Earth, where rain interacts with the surface. When and where that rain wets the surface changes seasonally in ways that remain poorly understood. Here we report the discovery of a bright ephemeral feature covering an area of 120,000 km2 near Titan's north pole in observations from Cassini's near‐infrared instrument, Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer on 7 June 2016. Based on the overall brightness, spectral characteristics, and geologic context, we attribute this new feature to specular reflections from a rain‐wetted solid surface like those off of a sunlit wet sidewalk. The reported observation is the first documented rainfall event at Titan's north pole and heralds the arrival of the northern summer (through climatic evidence), which has been delayed relative to model predictions. This detection helps constrain Titan's seasonal change and shows that the “wet‐sidewalk effect can be used to identify other rain events.”https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL080943precipitation on Titan's north polebroad specular reflectionephemeral feature on Titan's north polewet‐sidewalk effectsurface roughnessrainfall on Titan |
| spellingShingle | Rajani D. Dhingra Jason W. Barnes Robert H. Brown Bonnie J. Burrati Christophe Sotin Phillip D. Nicholson Kevin H. Baines Roger N. Clark Jason M. Soderblom Ralf Jauman Sebastien Rodriguez Stéphane Le Mouélic Elizabeth P. Turtle Jason E. Perry Valeria Cottini Don E. Jennings Observational Evidence for Summer Rainfall at Titan's North Pole Geophysical Research Letters precipitation on Titan's north pole broad specular reflection ephemeral feature on Titan's north pole wet‐sidewalk effect surface roughness rainfall on Titan |
| title | Observational Evidence for Summer Rainfall at Titan's North Pole |
| title_full | Observational Evidence for Summer Rainfall at Titan's North Pole |
| title_fullStr | Observational Evidence for Summer Rainfall at Titan's North Pole |
| title_full_unstemmed | Observational Evidence for Summer Rainfall at Titan's North Pole |
| title_short | Observational Evidence for Summer Rainfall at Titan's North Pole |
| title_sort | observational evidence for summer rainfall at titan s north pole |
| topic | precipitation on Titan's north pole broad specular reflection ephemeral feature on Titan's north pole wet‐sidewalk effect surface roughness rainfall on Titan |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL080943 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rajaniddhingra observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT jasonwbarnes observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT roberthbrown observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT bonniejburrati observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT christophesotin observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT phillipdnicholson observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT kevinhbaines observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT rogernclark observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT jasonmsoderblom observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT ralfjauman observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT sebastienrodriguez observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT stephanelemouelic observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT elizabethpturtle observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT jasoneperry observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT valeriacottini observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole AT donejennings observationalevidenceforsummerrainfallattitansnorthpole |