Lakes and rivers of Titan
Lakes of liquid ethane and methane exist on the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. This was confirmed by the Cassini–Huygens space probe, and had been suspected long before.[2] The large bodies of liquid are known as maria (seas) and the small ones as lacūs (lakes).[3]
History and discovery
The possibility of seas on Titan was first suggested by data from the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes, which flew past Titan in 1980 and 1981. The observations showed that Titan has a thick atmosphere with a temperature and composition potentially capable of supporting liquid hydrocarbons. In 1995, observations from the Hubble Space Telescope and other instruments provided indirect evidence for liquid methane, either in isolated bodies or in oceans spanning much of the moon's surface, analogous to Earth's oceans.[5]
The Cassini mission continued the search for surface liquids after arriving in the Saturn system in 2004. Scientists hoped to detect hydrocarbon lakes or seas through specular reflections of sunlight from their surfaces, but no such reflections were initially observed.[6]
The Huygens probe provided the first close-up observations of Titan's surface when it landed near the equator on January 14, 2005. Images taken during its descent showed no open bodies of liquid but provided evidence that liquid had flowed across the surface in the recent past. Pale hills were crossed by dark drainage channels that led into a broad, flat, dark region. Initially, this region was thought to be a lake or a deposit of a tar-like substance. However, Huygens landed on the region and found it to be solid, with no evidence of liquid. A penetrometer initially indicated that the surface resembled wet clay or a hard crust over a sticky material, but subsequent analysis suggested that the reading resulted from Huygens displacing a large pebble during landing. The surface is now thought to consist of ice grains resembling sand.[7] Images taken after landing showed a flat plain covered with rounded pebbles, which may be composed of water ice and may have been shaped by flowing liquid.[8]
Measurements made by Huygens indicated that heat was conducted away from the probe unusually quickly, suggesting that the ground was damp. One image also appears to show light reflected by a droplet falling through the camera's field of view. Because Titan receives little sunlight, evaporation is slow: about 1 cm of liquid per year, compared with about 1 m of water on Earth. Its atmosphere can hold the equivalent of about 10 meters (33 ft) of liquid before rain forms, compared with about 2 cm (0.79 in) on Earth. Titan's climate is therefore expected to include intense rainfall and flash floods separated by decades or centuries of drought.[9]
Scientists expected liquid ethane and methane to be especially abundant and stable in Titan's polar regions.[10] In the south polar region, a dark feature known as Ontario Lacus was the first suspected lake identified. It may have formed from precipitation associated with clouds that frequently occur in the area.[11] Radar imagery also revealed a possible shoreline near the pole.[12] During a Cassini flyby on July 22, 2006, radar observations of the northern latitudes, then in winter, revealed numerous large, smooth regions that appeared dark to radar.[13] Based on these observations, scientists announced in January 2007 that they had definitive evidence of methane-filled lakes on Titan.[10][14] The Cassini–Huygens team concluded that these features were almost certainly the long-sought hydrocarbon lakes, the first stable bodies of surface liquid known outside Earth. Some lakes have associated channels and occupy topographic depressions.[10] The limited erosion observed along some channels suggests that erosion on Titan is extremely slow or that more recent processes have erased older river channels and other landforms.[15] Overall, Cassini's radar observations showed that lakes cover only a few percent of Titan's surface and are concentrated near the poles, making Titan substantially drier than Earth.[16] Methane evaporation from lakes covering only 0.002–0.02% of Titan's total surface area may be sufficient to maintain the high relative humidity of methane in the lower atmosphere.[17]
During a Cassini flyby in late February 2007, radar and camera observations revealed several large features in the north polar region interpreted as expanses of liquid methane and ethane. One of these, Ligeia Mare, covers about 126,000 km2 (49,000 sq mi), making it slightly larger than Lake Michigan–Huron, the largest freshwater lake on Earth. Another, Kraken Mare, was later found to be about three times larger. A flyby of Titan's southern polar region in October 2007 revealed similar but much smaller lake-like features.[18]
During a Cassini flyby in December 2007, the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer observed Ontario Lacus in the south polar region. The instrument identifies materials by how they absorb and reflect infrared light. Radar measurements made in July 2009 and January 2010 indicated that Ontario Lacus is extremely shallow, with an average depth of 0.4–3.2 m (1 ft 4 in – 10 ft 6 in) and a maximum depth of 2.9–7.4 m (9 ft 6 in – 24 ft 3 in).[19] It may therefore resemble a terrestrial mudflat. By comparison, Ligeia Mare in the northern hemisphere has a depth of about 170 m (560 ft).[20]
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On December 21, 2008, Cassini passed directly over Ontario Lacus at an altitude of 1,900 km (1,200 mi) and detected a specular reflection in radar observations. The signal was much stronger than expected and saturated the spacecraft's receiver. Its strength indicated that the lake's surface level varied by no more than 3 mm (0.12 in) across a reflecting area about 100 m (330 ft) wide. The reflecting surface was smoother than any natural dry surface on Earth. These observations suggested that surface winds in the area were minimal at the time or that the lake's liquid was more viscous than expected.[21][22]
On July 8, 2009, Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer detected a specular reflection in 5 μm infrared light from a body of liquid in the northern hemisphere at 71° N, 337° W. The feature was initially identified as being near the southern shoreline of Kraken Mare, but combined radar and VIMS observations later showed that it was a separate lake, subsequently named Jingpo Lacus.[23] The observation occurred shortly after the northern polar region emerged from 15 years of winter darkness. Because the liquid body was near the pole, the observation required a phase angle close to 180 degrees.[24]
Despite Titan's arid equatorial conditions, Cassini observed only one equatorial rainstorm between 2004 and 2012. Several long-lived tropical hydrocarbon lakes were unexpectedly discovered in 2012.[25] One, near the Huygens landing site in the Shangri-La region, is about half the size of Utah's Great Salt Lake and at least 1 m (3.3 ft) deep. Underground aquifers are a possible source of these lakes, suggesting that the arid equatorial regions may contain localized reservoirs of liquid hydrocarbons.[26]
Composition and surface properties
According to Cassini data, scientists announced on February 13, 2008, that Titan hosts within its polar lakes "hundreds of times more natural gas and other liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth." The desert sand dunes along the equator, while devoid of open liquid, nonetheless hold more organics than all of Earth's coal reserves.[27] It has been estimated that the visible lakes and seas of Titan contain about 300 times the volume of Earth's proven oil reserves.[28] In June 2008, Cassini's Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer confirmed the presence of liquid ethane beyond doubt in a lake in Titan's southern hemisphere.[29] The exact blend of hydrocarbons in the lakes is unknown. According to a computer model, 3/4 of an average polar lake is ethane, with 10 percent methane, 7 percent propane and smaller amounts of hydrogen cyanide, butane, nitrogen and argon.[30] Benzene is expected to fall like snow and quickly dissolve into the lakes, although the lakes may become saturated just as the Dead Sea on Earth is packed with salt. The excess benzene would then build up in a mud-like sludge on the shores and on the lake floors before eventually being eroded by ethane rain, forming a complex cave-riddled landscape.[31] Salt-like compounds composed of ammonia and acetylene are also predicted to form.[32] However, the chemical composition and physical properties of the lakes probably varies from one lake to another (Cassini observations in 2013 indicate Ligeia Mare is filled with a ternary mixture of methane, ethane, and nitrogen and consequently the probe's radar signals were able to detect the sea floor 170 m [560 ft] below the liquid surface).[33]
No waves were initially detected by Cassini as the northern lakes emerged from winter darkness (calculations indicate wind speeds of less than 1 meter per second [2.2 mph] should whip up detectable waves in Titan's ethane lakes but none were observed). This may be either due to low seasonal winds or solidification of hydrocarbons. Titan has several lakes that reside near its northern pole that vary in size, the area these lakes cover and lower wind speeds could as well explain why there were no surface waves being detected. The area over a liquid that wind blows across is known as fetch.[34] The larger this area is, the larger waves become as wind has more area to blow across to transfer energy. The smaller the area of fetch, the smaller waves will be. The optical properties of solid methane surface (close to the melting point) are quite close to the properties of liquid surface however the viscosity of solid methane, even near the melting point, is many orders of magnitude higher, which might explain extraordinary smoothness of the surface.[35] Solid methane is denser than liquid methane so it will eventually sink. It is possible that the methane ice could float for a time as it probably contains bubbles of nitrogen gas from Titan's atmosphere.[36] Temperatures close to the freezing point of methane (90.4 K; −182.8 °C; −296.9 °F) could lead to both floating and sinking ice - that is, a hydrocarbon ice crust above the liquid and blocks of hydrocarbon ice on the bottom of the lake bed. The ice is predicted to rise to the surface again at the onset of spring before melting.
Since 2014, Cassini has detected transient features in scattered patches in Kraken Mare, Ligeia Mare and Punga Mare. Laboratory experiments suggest these features (e.g. RADAR-bright "magic islands")[37] might be vast patches of bubbles caused by the rapid release of nitrogen dissolved in the lakes. Bubble outburst events are predicted to occur as the lakes cool and subsequently warm or whenever methane-rich fluids mix with ethane-rich ones due to heavy rainfall.[38][39] Bubble outburst events may also influence the formation of Titan's river deltas.[39] An alternative explanation is the transient features in Cassini VIMS near-infrared data may be shallow, wind-driven capillary waves (ripples) moving at about 0.7 m/s (1.6 mph) and at heights of about 1.5 centimeters (0.59 in).[40][41][42] Post-Cassini analysis of VIMS data suggests tidal currents may also be responsible for the generation of persistent waves in narrow channels (Freta) of Kraken Mare.[42]
Cyclones driven by evaporation and involving rain as well as gale-force winds of up to 20 m/s (72 km/h; 45 mph) are expected to form over the large northern seas only (Kraken Mare, Ligeia Mare, Punga Mare) in northern summer during 2017, lasting up to ten days.[43] However, a 2017 analysis of Cassini data from 2007 to 2015 indicates waves across these three seas were diminutive, reaching only about 1 centimeter (0.39 in) high and 20 centimeters (7.9 in) long. The results call into question the early summer's classification as the beginning of the Titan's windy season, because high winds probably would have made for larger waves.[44] A 2019 theoretical study concluded that it is possible that the relatively dense aerosols raining down on Titan's lakes may have liquid-repelling properties, forming a persistent film on the surface of the lakes which then would inhibit formation of waves larger than a few centimetres in wavelength.[45]
Methane cycle and lake formation
Models of oscillations in Titan's atmospheric circulation suggest that over the course of a Saturnian year, liquid is transported from the equatorial region to the poles, where it falls as rain. This might account for the equatorial region's relative dryness.[46] According to a computer model, intense rainstorms should occur in normally rainless equatorial areas during Titan's vernal and autumnal equinoxes—enough liquid to carve out the type of channels that Huygens found.[47] The model also predicts energy from the Sun will evaporate liquid methane from Titan's surface except at the poles, where the relative absence of sunlight makes it easier for liquid methane to accumulate into permanent lakes. The model also apparently explains why there are more lakes in the northern hemisphere. Due to the eccentricity of Saturn's orbit, the northern summer is longer than the southern summer and consequently the rainy season is longer in the north.
However, recent Cassini observations (from 2013) suggest geology may also explain the geographic distribution of the lakes and other surface features. One puzzling feature of Titan is the lack of impact craters at the poles and mid-latitudes, particularly at lower elevations. These areas may be wetlands fed by subsurface ethane and methane springs.[48] Any crater created by meteorites is thus quickly subsumed by wet sediment. The presence of underground aquifers could explain another mystery. Titan's atmosphere is full of methane, which according to calculations should react with ultraviolet radiation from the sun to produce liquid ethane. Over time, the moon should have built up an ethane ocean hundreds of meters (1,500 to 2,500 feet) deep instead of only a handful of polar lakes. The presence of wetlands would suggest that the ethane soaks into the ground, forming a subsurface liquid layer akin to groundwater on Earth. A possibility is that the formation of materials called clathrates changes the chemical composition of the rainfall runoff that charges the subsurface hydrocarbon "aquifers." This process leads to the formation of reservoirs of propane and ethane that may feed into some rivers and lakes. The chemical transformations taking place underground would affect Titan's surface. Lakes and rivers fed by springs from propane or ethane subsurface reservoirs would show the same kind of composition, whereas those fed by rainfall would be different and contain a significant fraction of methane.[49]
97% of Titan's lakes have been found within a bright unit of terrain covering about 900 by 1,800 kilometers (560 by 1,120 mi) near the north pole. The lakes found here have very distinctive shapes—rounded complex silhouettes and steep sides—suggesting deformation of the crust created fissures that could be filled up with liquid. A variety of formation mechanisms have been proposed. The explanations range from the collapse of land after a cryovolcanic eruption to karst terrain, where liquids dissolve soluble ice.[50] Smaller lakes (up to tens of miles across) with steep rims (up to hundreds of feet high) might be analogous to maar lakes, i.e. explosion craters subsequently filled with liquid. The explosions are proposed to result from fluctuations in climate, which lead to pockets of liquid nitrogen accumulating within the crust during colder periods and then exploding when warming caused the nitrogen to rapidly expand as it shifted to a gas state.[51][52][53]
Titan Mare Explorer
Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) was a proposed NASA/ESA lander that would splash down on Ligeia Mare and analyze its surface, shoreline and Titan's atmosphere.[54] However, it was turned down in August 2012, when NASA instead selected the InSight mission to Mars.[55]
Named lakes, seas, and rivers
Features labeled lacus are believed to be ethane/methane lakes, while features labeled lacuna are believed to be dry lake beds. Both are named after lakes on Earth.[3]
Features labeled sinus are bays within the lakes or seas. They are named after bays and fjords on Earth. Features labeled insula are islands within the body of liquid. They are named after mythical islands. Titanean maria (large hydrocarbon seas) are named after sea monsters in world mythology.[3] The tables are up-to-date as of 2023.[56]
Sea names of Titan
| Name | Coordinates | Length (km)[note 1] | Area (km2) | Approval Date | Source of name | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kraken Mare | 68°00′N 310°00′W / 68.0°N 310.0°W | 1,170 | 400,000 | 11 April 2008 | The Kraken, Norse sea monster. | WGPSN |
| Ligeia Mare | 79°00′N 248°00′W / 79.0°N 248.0°W | 500 | 126,000 | 11 April 2008 | Ligeia, one of the Sirens, Greek monsters | WGPSN |
| Punga Mare | 85°06′N 339°42′W / 85.1°N 339.7°W | 380 | 40,000 | 14 November 2008 | Punga, Māori ancestor of sharks and lizards | WGPSN |
Lake names of Titan
Lakebed names of Titan
Bay names of Titan
Island names of Titan
| Insula | Coordinates | Liquid body | Diameter (km) | Approval Date | Named after | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bermoothes Insula | 67°06′N 317°06′W / 67.1°N 317.1°W | Kraken Mare | 124 | 19 January 2015 | Bermoothes, an enchanted island in Shakespeare's Tempest | WGPSN |
| Bimini Insula | 73°18′N 305°24′W / 73.3°N 305.4°W | Kraken Mare | 39 | 19 January 2015 | Bimini, island in Arawak legend said to contain the fountain of youth. | WGPSN |
| Bralgu Insula | 76°12′N 251°30′W / 76.2°N 251.5°W | Ligeia Mare | 55 | 19 January 2015 | Baralku, in Yolngu culture, the island of the dead and the place where the Djanggawul, the three creator siblings, originated. | WGPSN |
| Buyan Insula | 77°18′N 245°06′W / 77.3°N 245.1°W | Ligeia Mare | 48 | 19 January 2015 | Buyan, a rocky island in Russian folk tales located on the south shore of Baltic Sea | WGPSN |
| Hawaiki Insulae | 84°19′N 327°04′W / 84.32°N 327.07°W | Punga Mare | 35 | 14 December 2020 | Hawaiki, original home island of the Polynesian people in local mythology | WGPSN |
| Hufaidh Insulae | 67°00′N 320°18′W / 67°N 320.3°W | Kraken Mare | 152 | 19 January 2015 | Hufaidh, legendary island in the marshes of southern Iraq | WGPSN |
| Krocylea Insulae | 69°06′N 302°24′W / 69.1°N 302.4°W | Kraken Mare | 74 | 19 January 2015 | Crocylea, mythological Greek island in the Ionian Sea, near Ithaca | WGPSN |
| Mayda Insula | 79°06′N 312°12′W / 79.1°N 312.2°W | Kraken Mare | 168 | 11 April 2008 | Mayda, legendary island in the northeast Atlantic | WGPSN |
| Meropis Insula | 83°51′N 313°41′W / 83.85°N 313.68°W | Punga Mare | 30 | 14 December 2020 | Meropis, fictional island mentioned by ancient Greek writer Theopompus in his work Philippica | WGPSN |
| Onogoro Insula | 83°17′N 311°42′W / 83.28°N 311.7°W | Punga Mare | 15 | 14 December 2020 | Onogoro Island, Japanese mythological island | WGPSN |
| Penglai Insula | 72°12′N 308°42′W / 72.2°N 308.7°W | Kraken Mare | 94 | 19 January 2015 | Penglai, mythological Chinese mountain island where immortals and gods lived. | WGPSN |
| Planctae Insulae | 77°30′N 251°18′W / 77.5°N 251.3°W | Ligeia Mare | 64 | 19 January 2015 | Symplegades, the "clashing rocks" in Bosphorus which only Argo was said to have successfully passed. | WGPSN |
| Royllo Insula | 68°18′N 297°12′W / 68.3°N 297.2°W | Kraken Mare | 103 | 19 January 2015 | Royllo, legendary island in the Atlantic, on verge of unknown, near Antilla and Saint Brandan. | WGPSN |
River names of Titan
| Flumina | Coordinates | Liquid Body[note 2] | Length (km)[note 1] | Approval Date | Named after | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apanohuaya Flumen | 84°17′N 297°14′W / 84.29°N 297.24°W | Punga Mare | 64 | 12 March 2020 | Apanohuaya,[58] mythological river in the Aztec Underworld | WGPSN |
| Celadon Flumina | 73°42′S 28°48′W / 73.7°S 28.8°W | dry valley | 160 | 8 October 2014 | Celadon, river in Homer's Iliad | WGPSN |
| Elivagar Flumina | 19°18′N 78°30′W / 19.3°N 78.5°W | dry valley | 260 | 27 September 2007 | The Élivágar, a group of ice rivers in Norse mythology | WGPSN |
| Gihon Flumen | 76°49′N 215°33′W / 76.81°N 215.55°W | Ligeia Mare | 225 | 14 December 2020 | Gihon, Biblical second river of paradise that flows from Eden | WGPSN |
| Hubur Flumen | 70°12′S 192°54′W / 70.2°S 192.9°W | Ontario Lacus | 84 | 27 December 2015 | Hubur, river of the underworld in Mesopotamian mythology | WGPSN |
| Karesos Flumen | 70°54′S 194°48′W / 70.9°S 194.8°W | Ontario Lacus | 83 | 27 December 2015 | River in Homer's Iliad | WGPSN |
| Kokytos Flumina | 72°43′N 255°00′W / 72.71°N 255°W | Ligeia Mare | 305 | 14 December 2020 | Cocytus, river of lamentations in the Greek underworld | WGPSN |
| Sambation Flumina | 87°20′N 90°07′W / 87.33°N 90.12°W | Punga Mare | 210 | 14 December 2020 | Sambation, legendary river in Jewish literature | WGPSN |
| Saraswati Flumen | 74°36′S 193°30′W / 74.6°S 193.5°W | Ontario Lacus | >300[59][60] | 27 December 2015 | Saraswati, river in Hindu mythology | WGPSN |
| Vid Flumina | 72°54′N 242°30′W / 72.9°N 242.5°W | Ligeia Mare | 400[61] | 13 February 2013 | One of the rivers in Élivágar. | WGPSN |
| Xanthus Flumen | 83°28′N 242°46′W / 83.47°N 242.76°W | Ligeia Mare | 78 | 6 November 2015 | Name of the Gods of the river Skamandros in the Iliad. | WGPSN |
Image gallery
Maps of Titan's polar regions based on images from Cassini's ISS showing hydrocarbon lakes and seas. Bodies of liquid hydrocarbons are outlined in red; the blue outline indicates a body that appeared during the 2004-2005 interval.
High-resolution false-color Cassini synthetic aperture radar mosaic of Titan's north polar region, showing hydrocarbon seas, lakes and tributary networks. Blue coloring indicates low radar reflectivity areas, caused by bodies of liquid ethane, methane and dissolved nitrogen.[1] About half of Kraken Mare, the large body at lower left, is outside the image. Ligeia Mare is the large body at lower right. Punga Mare is just left of center. Jingpo Lacus is just above Kraken Mare, and Bolsena Lacus is directly above it.
Cassini view of Titan's north polar seas and lakes in the near infrared. Ligeia Mare is at top; Punga Mare is below it and Kraken Mare is to its lower right.
Between July 2004 and June 2005, new dark features appeared in Arrakis Planitia, a low plain in Titan's south polar region. These are interpreted as new bodies of liquid hydrocarbon resulting from precipitation from the clouds observed in the area in October 2004.
Titan's north polar lakes appear to have been stable for at least one Titanean season (seven Earth years).
Natural color visible-near infrared view of Titan showing its north polar seas and lakes at upper left.
See also
- Atmosphere of Titan – Layer of gasses surrounding the moon Titan
- Lakes on Mars – Former bodies of water on Mars
- List of largest lakes and seas in the Solar System
- Tar pit – Asphalt pit or asphalt lake
Notes
References
- 1 2 Coustenis, A.; Taylor, F. W. (21 July 2008). Titan: Exploring an Earthlike World. World Scientific. pp. 154–155. ISBN 978-981-281-161-5. OCLC 144226016. Retrieved 2013-12-29.
- ↑ Mitri, Giuseppe; Showman, Adam P.; Lunine, Jonathan I.; Lorenz, Ralph D. (2007-02-01). "Hydrocarbon lakes on Titan". Icarus. 186 (2): 385–394. Bibcode:2007Icar..186..385M. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2006.09.004. ISSN 0019-1035.
- 1 2 3 "Titan". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS. Retrieved 2013-12-29.
- ↑ "Vid Flumina". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
- ↑ Dermott, Stanley F.; Sagan, Carl (1995). "Tidal effects of disconnected hydrocarbon seas on Titan". Nature. 374 (6519): 238–240. Bibcode:1995Natur.374..238D. doi:10.1038/374238a0. PMID 7885443. S2CID 4317897.
- ↑ Bortman, Henry (November 2, 2004). "Titan: Where's the Wet Stuff?". Astrobiology Magazine. Archived from the original on November 3, 2006. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
- ↑ "Titan probe's pebble 'bash-down'". BBC News. April 10, 2005. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
- ↑ Lakdawalla, Emily (January 15, 2005). "New Images from the Huygens Probe: Shorelines and Channels, But an Apparently Dry Surface". The Planetary Society. Archived from the original on August 29, 2007. Retrieved 2005-03-28.
- ↑ Lorenz, Ralph; Sotin, Christophe (March 2010). "The Moon That Would be a Planet". Scientific American. 302 (3): 36–43. Bibcode:2010SciAm.302c..36L. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0310-36. PMID 20184181.
- 1 2 3 Stofan, Ellen R.; Elachi, C.; Lunine, Jonathan I.; et al. (January 4, 2007). "The lakes of Titan". Nature. 445 (1): 61–64. Bibcode:2007Natur.445...61S. doi:10.1038/nature05438. PMID 17203056. S2CID 4370622.
- ↑ Lakdawalla, Emily (June 28, 2005). "Dark Spot Near the South Pole: A Candidate Lake on Titan?". The Planetary Society. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2006-10-14.
- ↑ "NASA Cassini Radar Images Show Dramatic Shoreline on Titan" (Press release). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. September 16, 2005. Retrieved 2006-10-14.
{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ "PIA08630: Lakes on Titan". NASA Planetary Photojournal. NASA/JPL. 24 July 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-14.
- ↑ "Titan Has Liquid Lakes, Scientists Report in Nature". NASA/JPL. January 3, 2007. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
- ↑ "River networks on Titan point to a puzzling geologic history". MIT. July 20, 2012. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
- ↑ Hecht, Jeff (July 11, 2011). "Ethane lakes in a red haze: Titan's uncanny moonscape". New Scientist. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ↑ Mitri, Giuseppe; Showman, Adam P.; Lunine, Jonathan I.; Lorenz, Ralph D. (February 2007). "Hydrocarbon Lakes on Titan" (PDF). Icarus. 186 (2): 385–394. Bibcode:2007Icar..186..385M. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2006.09.004.
- ↑ Lakdawalla, Emily (2007). "News flash: Lakes at Titan's south pole, too, on top of the land of lakes in the north". The Planetary Society. Archived from the original on 2008-01-03. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
- ↑ Wall, Mike (2010-12-17). "Saturn Moon's 'Lake Ontario': Shallow and Virtually Wave-free". Space.com. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
- ↑ Foley, James (2013-12-20). "Depth and Volume of Methane Seas on Saturn Moon Titan Calculated". Nature World News. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
- ↑ Grossman, Lisa (2009-08-21). "Saturn moon's mirror-smooth lake 'good for skipping rocks'". New Scientist. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
- ↑ Wye, L. C.; Zebker, H. A.; Lorenz, R. D. (2009-08-19). "Smoothness of Titan's Ontario Lacus: Constraints from Cassini RADAR specular reflection data". Geophysical Research Letters. 36 (16): L16201. Bibcode:2009GeoRL..3616201W. doi:10.1029/2009GL039588.
- ↑ Cook, J.-R. C. (2009-12-17). "Glint of Sunlight Confirms Liquid in Northern Lake District of Titan". NASA. Archived from the original on 2011-10-09. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
- ↑ Lakdawalla, Emily (17 December 2009). "Cassini VIMS sees the long-awaited glint off a Titan lake". Planetary Society. Archived from the original on 2011-08-19. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
- ↑ Griffith, C.; et al. (2012). "Possible tropical lakes on Titan from observations of dark terrain". Nature. 486 (7402): 237–239. Bibcode:2012Natur.486..237G. doi:10.1038/nature11165. PMID 22699614. S2CID 205229194.
- ↑ "Tropical Methane Lakes on Saturn's Moon Titan". saturntoday.com. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
- ↑ "Titan Has More Oil Than Earth". Space.com. February 13, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
- ↑ Moskvitch, Katia (December 13, 2013). "Astrophile: Titan lake has more liquid fuel than Earth". New Scientist. Retrieved 2013-12-14.
- ↑ Hadhazy, Adam (2008). "Scientists Confirm Liquid Lake, Beach on Saturn's Moon Titan". Scientific American. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
- ↑ Hecht, Jeff (July 11, 2011). "Ethane lakes in a red haze: Titan's uncanny moonscape". New Scientist. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ↑ Hecht, Jeff (August 6, 2014). "Saturn Moon May Host its own Dead Sea". New Scientist. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
- ↑ Wenz, John (March 17, 2018). "Weird crystals could coat Titan". New Scientist. Vol. 237, no. 3169. p. 8. doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(18)30460-3. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
- ↑ Mastrogiuseppe, Marco; Poggiali, Valerio; Hayes, Alexander; Lorenz, Ralph; Lunine, Jonathan I.; Picardi, Giovanni; Seu, Roberto; Flamini, Enrico; Mitri, Giuseppe; Notarnicola, Claudia; Paillou, Philippe; Zebker, Howard (2014). "The bathymetry of a Titan sea" (PDF). Geophysical Research Letters. 41 (5): 1432–1437. Bibcode:2014GeoRL..41.1432M. doi:10.1002/2013GL058618. S2CID 134356087.
- ↑ "NOAA's National Weather Service - Glossary". forecast.weather.gov. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
- ↑ Kirichek, O.; Church, A. J.; Thomas, M. G.; Cowdery, D.; Higgins, S. D.; Dudman, M. P.; Bowden, Z. A. (February 1, 2012). "Adhesion, plasticity and other peculiar properties of solid methane". Cryogenics. 52 (7–9): 325–330. Bibcode:2012Cryo...52..325K. doi:10.1016/j.cryogenics.2012.02.001.
- ↑ "Blocks of Hydrocarbon Floating on Titan's Lakes?". February 8, 2013. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ Hofgartner, J. D.; Hayes, Alexander G.; Lunine, Jonathan I.; Zebker, Howard; Stiles, B. W.; Sotin, C.; Barnes, J. W.; Turtle, E. P.; Baines, K. H.; Brown, R. H.; Buratti, B. J. (July 2014). "Transient features in a Titan sea". Nature Geoscience. 7 (7): 493–496. Bibcode:2014NatGe...7..493H. doi:10.1038/ngeo2190. ISSN 1752-0908.
- ↑ Greicius, Tony (March 15, 2017). "Experiments Show Titan Lakes May Fizz with Nitrogen". NASA. Archived from the original on 2022-01-15. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- 1 2 Farnsworth, Kendra K.; Chevrier, Vincent F.; Steckloff, Jordan K.; Laxton, Dustin; Singh, Sandeep; Soto, Alejandro; Soderblom, Jason M. (2019). "Nitrogen Exsolution and Bubble Formation in Titan's Lakes". Geophysical Research Letters. 46 (23): 13658–13667. Bibcode:2019GeoRL..4613658F. doi:10.1029/2019GL084792. ISSN 1944-8007. S2CID 213542086.
- ↑ Barnes, Jason W.; Sotin, Christophe; Soderblom, Jason M.; Brown, Robert H.; Hayes, Alexander G.; Donelan, Mark; Rodriguez, Sebastien; Mouélic, Stéphane Le; Baines, Kevin H.; McCord, Thomas B. (2014-08-21). "Cassini/VIMS observes rough surfaces on Titan's Punga Mare in specular reflection". Planetary Science. 3 (1): 3. Bibcode:2014PlSci...3....3B. doi:10.1186/s13535-014-0003-4. ISSN 2191-2521. PMC 4959132. PMID 27512619.
- ↑ Hand, Eric (December 16, 2014). "Spacecraft spots probable waves on Titan's seas". Science. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
- 1 2 Heslar, Michael F.; Barnes, Jason W.; Soderblom, Jason M.; Seignovert, Benoit; Dhingra, Rajani D.; Sotin, Christophe (2020-07-01). "Tidal Currents Detected in Kraken Mare Straits from Cassini VIMS Sun Glitter Observations". The Planetary Science Journal. 1 (2): 35. arXiv:2007.00804. Bibcode:2020PSJ.....1...35H. doi:10.3847/PSJ/aba191. S2CID 220301577.
- ↑ Hecht, Jeff (February 22, 2013). "Icy Titan spawns tropical cyclones". New Scientist. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
- ↑ Grima, Cyril; Mastrogiuseppe, Marco; Hayes, Alexander G.; Wall, Stephen D.; Lorenz, Ralph D.; Hofgartner, Jason D.; Stiles, Bryan; Elachi, Charles; Cassini Radar Team (September 15, 2017). "Surface roughness of Titan's hydrocarbon seas". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 474: 20–24. Bibcode:2017E&PSL.474...20G. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.06.007. hdl:11573/1560403.
- ↑ Cordier, Daniel; Carrasco, Nathalie (May 2, 2019). "The floatability of aerosols and waves damping on Titan's seas". Nature Geoscience. 12 (5): 315–320. arXiv:1905.00760. Bibcode:2019NatGe..12..315C. doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0344-4. S2CID 143423109.
- ↑ "Tropical Titan: Titan's Icy Climate Mimics Earth's Tropics". Astrobiology Magazine. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
- ↑ "New Computer Model Explains Lakes and Storms on Titan". Saturn Today. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-02-01. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
- ↑ Grossman, Lisa (18 October 2013). "Soggy bogs swallow craters on Titan". New Scientist. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
- ↑ Cowing, Keith (September 3, 2014). "Icy Aquifers on Titan Transform Methane Rainfall". SpaceRef. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
- ↑ Cowing, Keith (October 23, 2013). "New Views of Titan's Land of Lakes". SpaceRef. Retrieved 2013-12-18.
- ↑ Mitri, Giuseppe; Lunine, Jonathan I.; Mastrogiuseppe, Marco; Poggiali, Valerio (2019). "Possible explosion crater origin of small lake basins with raised rims on Titan" (PDF). Nature Geoscience. 12 (10): 791–796. Bibcode:2019NatGe..12..791M. doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0429-0. hdl:11573/1560411. S2CID 201981435.
- ↑ "Giant explosions sculpted a moon's peculiar scenery". Nature. 573 (7774): 313. 13 September 2019. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-02706-1. S2CID 202641695.
- ↑ McCartney, G.; Johnson, A. (9 September 2019). "New Models Suggest Titan Lakes Are Explosion Craters". NASA JPL. Retrieved 2019-09-16.
- ↑ Stofan, Ellen (25 August 2009). "Titan Mare Explorer (TiME): The First Exploration of an Extra-Terrestrial Sea" (PDF). Space Policy Online. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-24. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
- ↑ Vastag, Brian (20 August 2012). "NASA will send robot drill to Mars in 2016". Washington Post.
- ↑ "Titan lacus". USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- ↑ Garrett, Christopher (August 1972). "Tidal Resonance in the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine". Nature. 238 (5365): 441–443. Bibcode:1972Natur.238..441G. doi:10.1038/238441a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4288383.
- ↑ "Mythological Journey to the Aztec Underworld | WilderUtopia.com". wilderutopia.com. 2018-10-10. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
- ↑ Birch, Samuel P. D.; Parker, Gary; Corlies, Paul; Soderblom, Jason M.; Miller, Julia W.; Palermo, Rose V.; Lora, Juan M.; Ashton, Andrew D.; Hayes, Alexander G.; Perron, J. Taylor (18 July 2023). "Reconstructing river flows remotely on Earth, Titan, and Mars". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 120 (29) e2206837120. doi:10.1073/pnas.2206837120. hdl:1912/70350.
- ↑ Dhingra, Rajani D.; Barnes, Jason W.; Yanites, Brian J.; Kirk, Randolph L. (2018-01-01). "Large catchment area recharges Titan's Ontario Lacus". Icarus. 299: 331–338. Bibcode:2018Icar..299..331D. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2017.08.009. ISSN 0019-1035.
- ↑ "NASA - Cassini Spots Mini Nile River on Saturn Moon". NASA. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
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