期刊
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
卷 38, 期 -, 页码 -出版社
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1029/2010GL046266
关键词
-
资金
- NASA
- ESA
- ASI
The Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem has observed Titan for similar to 1/4 Titan year, and we report here the first evidence of seasonal shifts in preferred locations of tropospheric methane clouds. South-polar convective cloud activity, common in late southern summer, has become rare. North-polar and northern mid-latitude clouds appeared during the approach to the northern spring equinox in August 2009. Recent observations have shown extensive cloud systems at low latitudes. In contrast, southern mid-latitude and subtropical clouds have appeared sporadically throughout the mission, exhibiting little seasonality to date. These differences in behavior suggest that Titan's clouds, and thus its general circulation, are influenced by both the rapid temperature response of a low-thermal-inertia surface and the much longer radiative timescale of Titan's cold thick troposphere. North-polar clouds are often seen near lakes and seas, suggesting that local increases in methane concentration and/or lifting generated by surface roughness gradients may promote cloud formation. Citation: Turtle, E. P., A. D. Del Genio, J. M. Barbara, J. E. Perry, E. L. Schaller, A. S. McEwen, R. A. West, and T. L. Ray (2011), Seasonal changes in Titan's meteorology, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L03203, doi:10.1029/2010GL046266.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据