Titan's Methane Cycle
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Titan and the Moons of Saturn Telesto Titan
The Icy Moons and the Extended Habitable Zone Europa Interior Models Other Types of Habitable Zones Water requires heat and pressure to remain stable as a liquid Extended Habitable Zones • You do not need sunlight. • You do need liquid water • You do need an energy source. Saturn and its Satellites • Saturn is nearly twice as far from the Sun as Jupiter • Saturn gets ~30% of Jupiter’s sunlight: It is commensurately colder Prometheus • Saturn has 82 known satellites (plus the rings) • 7 major • 27 regular • 4 Trojan • 55 irregular • Others in rings Titan • Titan is nearly as large as Ganymede Titan and the Moons of Saturn Telesto Titan Prometheus Dione Titan Janus Pandora Enceladus Mimas Rhea Pan • . • . Titan The second-largest moon in the Solar System The only moon with a substantial atmosphere 90% N2 + CH4, Ar, C2H6, C3H8, C2H2, HCN, CO2 Equilibrium Temperatures 2 1/4 Recall that TEQ ~ (L*/d ) Planet Distance (au) TEQ (K) Mercury 0.38 400 Venus 0.72 291 Earth 1.00 247 Mars 1.52 200 Jupiter 5.20 108 Saturn 9.53 80 Uranus 19.2 56 Neptune 30.1 45 The Atmosphere of Titan Pressure: 1.5 bars Temperature: 95 K Condensation sequence: • Jovian Moons: H2O ice • Saturnian Moons: NH3, CH4 2NH3 + sunlight è N2 + 3H2 CH4 + sunlight è CH, CH2 Implications of Methane Free CH4 requires replenishment • Liquid methane on the surface? Hazy atmosphere/clouds may suggest methane/ ethane precipitation. The freezing points of CH4 and C2H6 are 91 and 92K, respectively. (Titan has a mean temperature of 95K) (Liquid natural gas anyone?) This atmosphere may resemble the primordial terrestrial atmosphere. -
The Lakes and Seas of Titan • Explore Related Articles • Search Keywords Alexander G
EA44CH04-Hayes ARI 17 May 2016 14:59 ANNUAL REVIEWS Further Click here to view this article's online features: • Download figures as PPT slides • Navigate linked references • Download citations The Lakes and Seas of Titan • Explore related articles • Search keywords Alexander G. Hayes Department of Astronomy and Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853; email: [email protected] Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 2016. 44:57–83 Keywords First published online as a Review in Advance on Cassini, Saturn, icy satellites, hydrology, hydrocarbons, climate April 27, 2016 The Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences is Abstract online at earth.annualreviews.org Analogous to Earth’s water cycle, Titan’s methane-based hydrologic cycle This article’s doi: supports standing bodies of liquid and drives processes that result in common 10.1146/annurev-earth-060115-012247 Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 2016.44:57-83. Downloaded from annualreviews.org morphologic features including dunes, channels, lakes, and seas. Like lakes Access provided by University of Chicago Libraries on 03/07/17. For personal use only. Copyright c 2016 by Annual Reviews. on Earth and early Mars, Titan’s lakes and seas preserve a record of its All rights reserved climate and surface evolution. Unlike on Earth, the volume of liquid exposed on Titan’s surface is only a small fraction of the atmospheric reservoir. The volume and bulk composition of the seas can constrain the age and nature of atmospheric methane, as well as its interaction with surface reservoirs. Similarly, the morphology of lacustrine basins chronicles the history of the polar landscape over multiple temporal and spatial scales. -
The Origin of Titan's Atmosphere: Some Recent Advances
The origin of Titan’s atmosphere: some recent advances By Tobias Owen1 & H. B. Niemann2 1University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA 2Laboratory for Atmospheres, Goddard Space Fight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA It is possible to make a consistent story for the origin of Titan’s atmosphere starting with the birth of Titan in the Saturn subnebula. If we use comet nuclei as a model, Titan’s nitrogen and methane could easily have been delivered by the ice that makes up ∼50% of its mass. If Titan’s atmospheric hydrogen is derived from that ice, it is possible that Titan and comet nuclei are in fact made of the same protosolar ice. The noble gas abundances are consistent with relative abundances found in the atmospheres of Mars and Earth, the sun, and the meteorites. Keywords: Origin, atmosphere, composition, noble gases, deuterium 1. Introduction In this note, we will assume that Titan originated in Saturn’s subnebula as a result of the accretion of icy planetesimals: particles and larger lumps made of ice and rock. Alibert & Mousis (2007) reached this same point of view using an evolutionary, turbulent model of Saturn’s subnebula. They found that planetesimals made in the solar nebula according to their model led to a huge overabundance of CO on Titan. We obviously have no direct measurements of the composition of these planetes- imals. We can use comets as a guide, always remembering that comets formed in the solar nebula where conditions must have been different from those in Saturn’s subnebula, e.g., much colder. -
Hydrocarbon Lakes on Titan
Icarus 186 (2007) 385–394 www.elsevier.com/locate/icarus Hydrocarbon lakes on Titan Giuseppe Mitri a,∗,AdamP.Showmana, Jonathan I. Lunine a,b, Ralph D. Lorenz a,c a Department of Planetary Sciences and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, 1629 E. University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85721-0092, USA b Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario INAF-IFSI, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere, 00133 Rome, Italy c Now at Space Department, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723-6099, USA Received 9 March 2006; revised 6 September 2006 Available online 7 November 2006 Abstract The Huygens Probe detected dendritic drainage-like features, methane clouds and a high surface relative humidity (∼50%) on Titan in the vicinity of its landing site [Tomasko, M.G., and 39 colleagues, 2005. Nature 438, 765–778; Niemann, H.B., and 17 colleagues, 2005. Nature 438, 779–784], suggesting sources of methane that replenish this gas against photo- and charged-particle chemical loss on short (10–100) million year timescales [Atreya, S.K., Adams, E.Y., Niemann, H.B., Demick-Montelara, J.E., Owen, T.C., Fulchignoni, M., Ferri, F., Wilson, E.H., 2006. Planet. Space Sci. In press]. On the other hand, Cassini Orbiter remote sensing shows dry and even desert-like landscapes with dunes [Lorenz, R.D., and 39 colleagues, 2006a. Science 312, 724–727], some areas worked by fluvial erosion, but no large-scale bodies of liquid [Elachi, C., and 34 colleagues, 2005. Science 308, 970–974]. Either the atmospheric methane relative humidity is declining in a steady fashion over time, or the sources that maintain the relative humidity are geographically restricted, small, or hidden within the crust itself. -
The Exploration of Titan with an Orbiter and a Lake Probe
Planetary and Space Science ∎ (∎∎∎∎) ∎∎∎–∎∎∎ Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Planetary and Space Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pss The exploration of Titan with an orbiter and a lake probe Giuseppe Mitri a,n, Athena Coustenis b, Gilbert Fanchini c, Alex G. Hayes d, Luciano Iess e, Krishan Khurana f, Jean-Pierre Lebreton g, Rosaly M. Lopes h, Ralph D. Lorenz i, Rachele Meriggiola e, Maria Luisa Moriconi j, Roberto Orosei k, Christophe Sotin h, Ellen Stofan l, Gabriel Tobie a,m, Tetsuya Tokano n, Federico Tosi o a Université de Nantes, LPGNantes, UMR 6112, 2 rue de la Houssinière, F-44322 Nantes, France b Laboratoire d’Etudes Spatiales et d’Instrumentation en Astrophysique (LESIA), Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC University Paris 06, University Paris-Diderot, Meudon, France c Smart Structures Solutions S.r.l., Rome, Italy d Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, United States e Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale, Università La Sapienza, 00184 Rome, Italy f Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Los Angeles, CA, United States g LPC2E-CNRS & LESIA-Obs., Paris, France h Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States i Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, United States j Istituto di Scienze dell‘Atmosfera e del Clima (ISAC), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Rome, Italy k Istituto di Radioastronomia (IRA), Istituto Nazionale -
Detection of Chemical Species in Titan's Atmosphere Using High
UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA FACULDADE DE CIÊNCIAS DEPARTAMENTO FÍSICA Detection of Chemical Species in Titan’s Atmosphere using High-Resolution Spectroscopy José Luís Fernandes Ribeiro Mestrado em Física Especialização em Astrofísica e Cosmologia Dissertação orientada por: Doutor Pedro Machado 2019 Acknowledgments This master’s thesis would not be possible without the support of my parents, Maria de F´atimaPereira Fernandes Ribeiro and Lu´ısCarlos Pereira Ribeiro, who I would like to thank for believing in me, encouraging me and allowing me to embark on this journey of knowledge and discovery. They made the person that I am today. I would like to thank all my friends and colleagues who accompanied me all these years for the great moments and new experiences that happened trough these years of university. They contributed a lot to my life and for that I am truly grateful. I just hope that I contributed to theirs as well. I also would like to thank John Pritchard from ESO Operations Support for helping me getting the EsoReflex UVES pipeline working on my computer, without him we would probably wouldn’t have the Titan spectra reduced by now. And I also like to thank Doctor Santiago P´erez-Hoyos for his availability to teach our planetary sciences group how to use the NEMESIS Radiative Transfer model and Doctor Th´er`ese Encrenaz for providing the ISO Saturn and Jupiter data. I would like to give a special thank you to Jo˜aoDias and Constan¸caFreire, for their support and help during this work. Lastly, and surely not the least, I would like to thank my supervisor Pedro Machado for showing me how to be a scientist and how to do scientific work. -
Regional Geomorphology and History of Titan's Xanadu Province
Icarus 211 (2011) 672–685 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Icarus journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/icarus Regional geomorphology and history of Titan’s Xanadu province J. Radebaugh a,, R.D. Lorenz b, S.D. Wall c, R.L. Kirk d, C.A. Wood e, J.I. Lunine f, E.R. Stofan g, R.M.C. Lopes c, P. Valora a, T.G. Farr c, A. Hayes h, B. Stiles c, G. Mitri c, H. Zebker i, M. Janssen c, L. Wye i, A. LeGall c, K.L. Mitchell c, F. Paganelli g, R.D. West c, E.L. Schaller j, The Cassini Radar Team a Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, S-389 ESC Provo, UT 84602, United States b Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, United States c Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, United States d US Geological Survey, Branch of Astrogeology, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, United States e Wheeling Jesuit University, Wheeling, WV 26003, United States f Department of Physics, University of Rome ‘‘Tor Vergata”, Rome 00133, Italy g Proxemy Research, P.O. Box 338, Rectortown, VA 20140, USA h Department of Geological Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA i Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 350 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA j Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA article info abstract Article history: Titan’s enigmatic Xanadu province has been seen in some detail with instruments from the Cassini space- Received 20 March 2009 craft. -
Titan's Upper Atmosphere Composition and Temperature from Cassini
Titan’s upper atmosphere composition and temperature from Cassini-ultraviolet imaging spectrograph stellar and solar occultations Fernando Capalbo To cite this version: Fernando Capalbo. Titan’s upper atmosphere composition and temperature from Cassini-ultraviolet imaging spectrograph stellar and solar occultations. Earth Sciences. Université Paris-Est, 2013. English. NNT : 2013PEST1101. tel-00987078 HAL Id: tel-00987078 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00987078 Submitted on 5 May 2014 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. These` present´ ee´ pour obtenir le grade de Docteur de l’Universite´ Paris-Est Specialit´ e:´ Sciences de l’Univers et Environnement par Fernando Javier Capalbo Ecole Doctorale : Sciences, Ingenierie´ et Environnement Composition et temperature´ de l’haute atmosphere` de Titan a` partir des occultations stellaires et solaires mesurees´ par l’Spectrographe d’Imagerie Ultraviolet de Cassini These` soutenue le 26 novembre 2013 devant le jury compose´ de: Courtin Regis´ Rapporteur Pascal Rannou Rapporteur Emmanuel Lellouch Examinateur Antoine Jolly Examinateur Veronique Vuitton Examinateur Franc¸ois Raulin Examinateur Roger Yelle Examinateur Yves Benilan´ Directeur de these` ii Titan’s upper atmosphere composition and temperature from Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph stellar and solar occultations Fernando J. -
Engineering Models for Titan's Atmosphere
Engineering Models for Titan's Atmosphere R. V. Yelle1, D. F. Strobell,2 E. Lellouch3 & D. Gautier3 1Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA E-mail: [email protected] Fax: +1 617 353-6463 2Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA 3Departement de Recherche Spatiale, Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, F-92195 Meudon Cedex, France This report presents engineering models for Titan's atmospheric structure used in the design and analysis 1. Introduction of the Huygens Probe and its mission. It supersedes an earlier report by Lellouch & Hunten published in 1987 (hereafter LH; also see the Lellouch & Runten paper in this volume). There has been significant progress in our under-standing of Titan's atmosphere in the last few years, particularly in the thermal structure of the upper atmosphere and in the chemical composition of the atmosphere. We make use of these advances in constructing the new models. These models will be used in the study of two problems: the Probe's heat loading during atmospheric entry, and the descent time to the surface. The first problem concerns primarily the atmospheric structure below 600 km, and the second the atmospheric structure in the lowest 200 km. If the models are to be used for other purposes, the authors should be consulted. As in the LH report, we present three models: a recommended model; a model for maximum mass density; and a model for minimum mass density. The minimum and maximum models also have the lowest and highest temperatures. -
Evolution of Titan's Atmosphere During the Late Heavy Bombardment
Evolution of Titan’s atmosphere during the Late Heavy Bombardment Nadejda Marouninaa, Gabriel Tobiea, Sabrina Carpya, Julien Monteuxa,b, Benjamin Charnayc, Olivier Grasseta aLaboratoire de Plan´etologie et G´eodynamique, Universit´ede Nantes, CNRS, UMR-6112, 2, rue de la Houssini`ere, 44322 Nantes cedex France. bLaboratoire Magmas et Volcans, Universit´eBlaise Pascal – CNRS – IRD, OPGC, 5 rue Kessler, 63038 Clermont-Ferrand, France cVirtual Planetary Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA Abstract The mass and composition of Titan’s massive atmosphere, which is dominated by N2 and CH4 at present, have probably varied all along its history owing to a combination of exogenous and endogenous processes. In the present study, we investigate its fate during the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) by modeling the competitive loss and supply of volatiles by cometary im- pacts and their consequences on the atmospheric balance. For surface albedos ranging between 0.1 and 0.7, we examine the emergence of an atmosphere during the LHB as well as the evolution of a primitive atmosphere with various masses and compositions prior to this event, accounting for impact-induced crustal NH3-N2 conversion and subsequent outgassing as well as impact- induced atmospheric erosion. By considering an impactor population characteristic of the LHB, we show that the generation of a N2-rich atmosphere with a mass equivalent to the present-day one requires ammonia mass fraction of 2 to 5 %, depending on surface albedos, in an icy layer of at least 50 km below the surface, implying an undifferentiated interior at the time of LHB. Except for high surface albedos (AS ≥ 0:7) where most of the released N2 remain frozen at the surface, our calculations indicate that the high-velocity impacts led to a strong atmospheric erosion. -
Origin of Oxygen Species in Titan's Atmosphere
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 113, E10006, doi:10.1029/2008JE003135, 2008 Click Here for Full Article Origin of oxygen species in Titan’s atmosphere S. M. Ho¨rst,1 V. Vuitton,1,2 and R. V. Yelle1 Received 3 March 2008; revised 9 May 2008; accepted 18 May 2008; published 7 October 2008. + [1] The detection of O precipitating into Titan’s atmosphere by the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) represents the discovery of a previously unknown source of oxygen in Titan’s atmosphere. The photochemical model presented here shows that those oxygen ions are incorporated into CO and CO2. We show that the observed abundances of CO, CO2 and H2O can be simultaneously reproduced using an oxygen flux consistent with the CAPS observations and an OH flux consistent with predicted production from micrometeorite ablation. It is therefore unnecessary to assume that the observed CO abundance is the remnant of a larger primordial CO abundance or to invoke outgassing of CO from Titan’s interior as a source of CO. Citation: Ho¨rst, S. M., V. Vuitton, and R. V. Yelle (2008), Origin of oxygen species in Titan’s atmosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 113, E10006, doi:10.1029/2008JE003135. 1. Introduction evolved from gases trapped in clathrates that were incorpo- rated into Titan as it accreted [Owen, 1982]. This hypothesis [2] The Saturnian system is oxygen rich. Observations also implies that CO was the main carbon-bearing species at from Earth-based observatories and planetary missions have + + the time of accretion and Titan should have had a primordial detected O ,O2, O, OH, and H2O near Saturn [Esposito et abundance of CO larger than observed today. -
A Assessment Study Report ESA Contribution to the Titan Saturn
ESA-SRE(2008)4 12 February 2009 N ITU LEMENTS ESA Contribution to the Titan Saturn System Mission Assessment Study Report a TSSM In Situ Elements issue 1 revision 2 - 12 February 2009 ESA-SRE(2008)4 page ii of vii C ONTRIBUTIONS This report is compiled from input by the following contributors: Titan-Saturn System Joint Science Definition Team (JSDT): Athéna Coustenis (Observatoire de Paris- Meudon, France; European Lead Scientist), Dennis Matson (JPL; NASA Study Scientist), Candice Hansen (JPL; NASA Deputy Study Scientist), Jonathan Lunine (University of Arizona; JSDT Co- Chair), Jean-Pierre Lebreton (ESA; JSDT Co-Chair), Lorenzo Bruzzone (University of Trento), Maria-Teresa Capria (Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale, Rome), Julie Castillo-Rogez (JPL), Andrew Coates (Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Dorking), Michele K. Dougherty (Imperial College London), Andy Ingersoll (Caltech), Ralf Jaumann (DLR Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin), William Kurth (University of Iowa), Luisa M. Lara (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Granada), Rosaly Lopes (JPL), Ralph Lorenz (JHU-APL), Chris McKay (Ames Research Center), Ingo Muller-Wodarg (Imperial College London), Olga Prieto-Ballesteros (Centro de Astrobiologia- INTA-CSIC, Madrid), François Raulin LISA (Université Paris 12 & Paris 7), Amy Simon-Miller (GSFC), Ed Sittler (GSFC), Jason Soderblom (University of Arizona), Frank Sohl (DLR Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin), Christophe Sotin (JPL), Dave Stevenson (Caltech), Ellen Stofan (Proxeny), Gabriel Tobie (Université de Nantes), Tetsuya