The north polar lakes of Titan as observed by Cassini Radar
PAILLOU, Philippe
Laboratoire d'astrodynamique, d'astrophysique et d'aéronomie de bordeaux [L3AB]
Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers [OASU]
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux [Pessac] [LAB]
Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 [UB]
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Laboratoire d'astrodynamique, d'astrophysique et d'aéronomie de bordeaux [L3AB]
Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers [OASU]
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux [Pessac] [LAB]
Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 [UB]
PAILLOU, Philippe
Laboratoire d'astrodynamique, d'astrophysique et d'aéronomie de bordeaux [L3AB]
Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers [OASU]
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux [Pessac] [LAB]
Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 [UB]
< Leer menos
Laboratoire d'astrodynamique, d'astrophysique et d'aéronomie de bordeaux [L3AB]
Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers [OASU]
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux [Pessac] [LAB]
Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 [UB]
Idioma
en
Communication dans un congrès
Este ítem está publicado en
2007AGUFM.P23B1349M - American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #P23B-1349, 2007.
Resumen en inglés
Over the course of a year, Cassini RADAR obtained Synthetic Aperture Radar images covering 69 percent of Titan's polar region north of 65 degrees; the region being 1.4E6 km3 in extent, greater than double the land area of ...Leer más >
Over the course of a year, Cassini RADAR obtained Synthetic Aperture Radar images covering 69 percent of Titan's polar region north of 65 degrees; the region being 1.4E6 km3 in extent, greater than double the land area of the USA. We observe several hundred lakes with a range of morphological expression, including areally massive and morphologically distinctive "seas", covering ~15% of the polar region. Lakes are extremely radar dark, consistent with a lossy liquid hydrocarbon. Preliminary laboratory estimates suggest that loss tangents in the range 10E4 to 2x10E3 are reasonable, which implies that one can see through at least a few to many tens of m of liquids before the noise floor is reached, consistent with observed brightening towards many lake shores. North polar lake volumes are most likely in the 8E3 - 1.4E6 km3 range. Uncertainties will be reduced as more data, both image-based and experimental, are obtained but we can conclude with a high degree of confidence that hydrocarbon lakes on Titan are more voluminous than known terrestrial oil reserves; current estimates range from 2248 - 3896 billion barrels of oil (J. Hakes, 2000, Long Term World Oil Supply, Meeting of the Am. Ass. Pet. Geol., 18th April 2000, New Orleans, LA, http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/presentations/2000/long_term_supply.), hence 357 - 619 km3 . Small lakes often occupy steep-sided depressions, and although thermal and cryovolcanic origins cannot be completely ruled out, we are seeing growing geomorphologic evidence for dissolution chemistry, indicative of karst-like geology. The dichotomy between small lakes over slightly more than one half of the region, and seas on the other half, may be best explained by a topographic anomaly causing sub-surface flow of materials from the lakes to the seas. This may also explain observations by the Cassini ISS team (E. Turtle et al., in prep.) of a putative massive sea extending considerably further south than other observed north polar lakes.< Leer menos
Palabras clave en inglés
9345 Large bodies of water (e.g.
2400 IONOSPHERE (6929)
2419 Ion chemistry and composition (0335)
9345 Large bodies of water (e.g
lakes and inland seas) (0746)
Orígen
Importado de HalCentros de investigación