The Surface and Atmosphere of TITAN

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The Surface and Atmosphere of TITAN

• An Earthlike body
• Haze, Drizzle, clouds and rain?
• Oceans, volcanoes and continents?
• Goals for Cassini

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Titan vs. The Moon
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Saturns Satellites
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A Satellite with an Atmosphere
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Interior of Titan
D.Stevenson
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Temperature/Pressure Profile
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Atmospheric Composition

• Major
• Molecular nitrogen, N2
• 0.98-0.85
• Argon, Ar36
• lt6 ? 10-2 (at 3900 km)
• lt7 ? 10-2 (near surface)
• Methane, CH4
• 4.5-8.5 ? 10-2 (surface)
• 1.7-3.0 ? 10-2 (stratosphere)
• (83) ? 10-2 (at 3700 km)

• Minor
• Nitrogen, N, ?, Hydrogen , H, lt10 Hydrogen, H2,
  0.0011 Neon, Ne, lt1 ? 10-2 Ethane, C2H6, 1.3 ?
  10-5 Propane, C3H8, 5 ? 10-7 Acetylene, C2H2, 3
  ? 10-6 Ethylene, C2H4, 1.5 ? 10-7
  Methylacetylene, CH3C2H, 5 ? 10-9 Diacetylene,
  C4H2, 1.4 ? 10-9 Cyanogen, C2N2, 5.5 ? 10-9
  Hydrogen cyanide, HCN, 1.7 ? 10-7 4 ? 10-7
  Cyanoacetylene, HC3N, lt 1.5 ? 10-9 - 8.4 ? 10-8
  Acetonitrile, CH3CN, 1 ? 10-8 -1.5 ? 10-9
  Water, H2O, 8 ? 10-9 Carbon monoxide, CO, 5
  ?10-6 - 5 ? 10-5 Carbon dioxide, CO2, 1.4 ?10-8

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CHIMIE ATMOSPHÉRIQUE
F. Raulin
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Methane Clouds and Tholin Aerosols
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Boating on Titan?
Morrison Owen,1988
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Titans Near-IR Spectrum
Coustenis et al
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Early Images of Titans Surface
Smith et al 1994
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Near-IR Spectra surface
A. Coustenis
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Near-IR Spectra clouds?
Griffith et al 1999
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Temperature/Pressure Profile
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Surface Features in the near-IR
Coustenis et al.
Macintosh et al.
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Best Guess model
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Moore Hardy, 1972
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Obs. de Paris
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CIRS The Composite InfraRed Spectrometer
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Voyager IR Spectra of Titan
Kunde et al.1980
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Cassini CIRS Jupiter Spectrum
Flasar et al.2001
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Further Reading!