What evidence is there to prove that Titan will rain?

Image from that international Cassini spacecraft provide evidence of the arctic rainfall of Saturn's largest satellite Titan, which will be the first sign of the begin of summer in the northern hemisphere. University of idaho physics doctoral student rajani? Rajani Dhingra said: Everyone is looking forward to seeing clouds and rain at Titan's North Pole, which indicates the beginning of summer in the north, but although the climate model predicted this, we didn't even see any clouds. People call it a strange case of missing clouds. Dhingra and his colleagues found the reflection characteristics near the North Pole of Titan in an image taken by Cassini's near-infrared instrument (vision and infrared drawing spectrometer) on June 7, 20 19 16. Their research was published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Boko Park-Kepu: This reflection feature covers an area of about 46,332 square miles, which is about half the area of the Great Lakes. It did not appear in the images before and after Cassini. The analysis of short-term reflection characteristics shows that this may be due to the reflection of sunlight on wet surfaces. This study attributed this reflection to the methane rain event, and then it may be a period of evaporation, just like looking at a wet sidewalk in the sun. This reflecting surface represents the first observation of summer rainfall in the northern hemisphere of the moon. If compared with the four-season cycle of the earth every year, one season on Titan is as long as seven earth years. Cassini arrived at Titan in the southern hemisphere in summer to observe clouds and rainfall in the southern hemisphere. Titan's climate model predicts that similar weather will occur in the northern hemisphere a few years before the summer solstice in 20 17.

This new study provides evidence for the Arctic rainfall of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. As the picture shows, according to the researchers, rainfall will be the first sign of the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere. Photo: NASA /JPL/ University of Arizona, but by 20 16, the clouds predicted in the northern hemisphere did not appear. This observation may help scientists to understand the seasons of Titan more comprehensively. Astronomers hope that model predictions are consistent with observations. This rainfall detection proves that the climate of Cassini accords with the theoretical climate model as we know it. What is happening in summer, it is delayed, but it is happening, but researchers must find out the reason for the delay. Dingra said that more analysis shows that methane rain falls on a relatively pebble-like surface. When the liquid precipitates in cracks and gullies, the rough surface will form amorphous patterns, while the liquid will form when it falls on the smooth surface.

A relatively round puddle. As part of her research, Dinla is using the wet sidewalk effect to find more rainfall events on Titan.

Cassini's vision and infrared mapping spectrometer photographed Titan's North Pole, showing the "wet sidewalk" area in orange. The analysis shows that this is evidence of Titan's seasonal changes and rainfall in the North Pole. The blue box shows the extended area in the bottom panel. The picture below is an enlarged view of Titan's North Pole. Dark blue arrows indicate clouds. The red arrow marks the specular reflection of a lake named blue lagoon, Sorlot. The pink arrow indicates the "wet sidewalk" area. This black dot marks the North Pole of Titan. The light blue arrow marks the largest ocean in the Arctic. Photo: NASA /JPL/ University of Arizona/university of idaho.