Related papers: Titan's transport-driven methane cycle
Saltation threshold, the minimum wind speed for sediment transport, is a fundamental parameter in aeolian processes. The presence of liquid, such as water on Earth or methane on Titan, may affect the threshold values to a great extent.…
For decades, scientists have tried to explain the evidence for fluvial activity on early Mars, but a consensus has yet to emerge regarding the mechanism for producing it. One hypothesis suggests early Mars was warmed by a thick greenhouse…
Observed changes such as increasing global temperatures and the intensification of the global water cycle in the 20th century are also robust results of coupled general circulation models. In spite of this success model-to-model variability…
Conditions on Saturn's moon Titan suggest dust devils, which are convective, dust-laden plumes, may be active. Although the exact nature of dust on Titan is unclear, previous observations confirm an active aeolian cycle, and dust devils may…
We present a novel analytic framework to model the steady-state structure of multiphase galactic winds comprised of a hot, volume-filling component and a cold, clumpy component. We first derive general expressions for the structure of the…
In this chapter we begin with a review of Titan's fluvial and lacustrine landscapes as observed with Cassini remote sensing data, and what the many discoveries have revealed about Titan's surface materials and climate. Yet Cassini remote…
A plausible explanation for the absence of primordial argon, krypton, and xenon in Titan's current atmosphere is that these gases were sequestered in clathrate hydrates during Titan's "open-ocean" phase. We examine how clathrate hydrate…
Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has a dense atmosphere, together with lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons. These liquid bodies, which are in polar regions and up to several hundred kilometres in diameter, generally have smooth surfaces…
Saturn's axial tilt produces seasons in a similar way as on Earth. Both the stratospheric temperature and composition are affected by this latitudinally varying insolation along the seasons. The thermal structure is controlled and regulated…
As they keep cooling and contracting, Solar System giant planets radiate more energy than they receive from the Sun. Applying the first and second principles of thermodynamics, one can determine their cooling rate, luminosity, and…
The formation and evolution of haze layers in planetary atmospheres play a critical role in shaping their chemical composition, radiative balance, and optical properties. In the outer solar system, the atmospheres of Titan and the giant…
Context: The superrotation phenomenon in the atmosphere on Venus has been known since the late 60's. But until now no mechanism proposed has satisfactorily explained this phenomenon. Objective: The aim of this research is to propose a…
While water lifting plays a recognized role in the global atmospheric power budget, estimates for this role in tropical cyclones vary from no effect to a major reduction in storm intensity. To better assess this impact, here we consider the…
Tidal interactions between moons and planets can have major effects on the orbits, spins, and thermal evolution of the moons. In the Saturn system, tidal dissipation in the planet transfers angular momentum from Saturn to the moons, causing…
Titan has a diverse range of materials in its atmosphere and on its surface: the simple organics that reside in various phases (gas, liquid, ice) and the solid complex refractory organics that form Titan's haze layers. These materials all…
We have performed high resolution $3-$dimensional compressible hydrodynamics simulations to investigate the effects of shocks and turbulence on energy transport into hot Jupiter atmospheres, under a variety of shear gradients. We focus on a…
Ethane is expected to be the dominant photochemical product on Titan's surface and, in the absence of a process that sequesters it from exposed surface reservoirs, a major constituent of its lakes and seas. Absorption of Cassini's 2.2 cm…
The paper analyzes the phenomenon of turbulent thermal diffusion in the Earth atmosphere, its relation to the turbulent diffusion and its potential impact on aerosol distribution. This phenomenon was predicted theoretically more than 10…
Intensification of tropical storms measured as the central pressure tendency represents a subtle imbalance, of the order of $10^{-3}$, between the inflow and outflow of air in the storm core. Factors driving this imbalance, especially in…
Between 2004 and 2007 the instruments of the CASSINI spacecraft discovered hydrocarbon lakes in the polar regions of Titan. We have developed a lake-atmosphere equilibrium model allowing the determination of the chemical composition of…