When
3:30 p.m., Nov. 10, 2009
Where
Kuiper Space Sciences Building 308
Dr. Jonathan Mitchell from UCLA is the scheduled speaker.
Titan’s atmosphere is laden with methane vapor, the equivalent of a ~5 meter global ocean. I will demonstrate how the coupling of methane thermodynamics to Titan’s large-scale circulation limits cloud coverage and duration, defines climate zones, and damps the seasonal cycle of temperatures. Cassini and ground-based observations are beginning to reveal these effects in the seasonality of methane clouds and the latitudinal distribution of surface morphologies. I will also discuss dynamical mechanisms leading to the phenomenon of atmospheric superrotation in Titan’s atmosphere including a possible explanation for the orientation of prograde surface winds revealed in Titan’s equatorial dunes.
Titan’s atmosphere is laden with methane vapor, the equivalent of a ~5 meter global ocean. I will demonstrate how the coupling of methane thermodynamics to Titan’s large-scale circulation limits cloud coverage and duration, defines climate zones, and damps the seasonal cycle of temperatures. Cassini and ground-based observations are beginning to reveal these effects in the seasonality of methane clouds and the latitudinal distribution of surface morphologies. I will also discuss dynamical mechanisms leading to the phenomenon of atmospheric superrotation in Titan’s atmosphere including a possible explanation for the orientation of prograde surface winds revealed in Titan’s equatorial dunes.
General
LPL Colloquium
Undergraduate
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