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The texture, composition, and morphology of dunes observed in the equatorialregions of Titan may reflect present and/or past climatic conditions.Determining the physio-chemical properties and the morphodynamics of Titan'sdunes is therefore essential to understanding of the climatic and geologicalhistory of the largest moon of Saturn. We quantitatively derived averagesurface properties of dune and interdune areas (texture, composition) frommodeling of the microwave backscattered signal and Monte-Carlo inversion of thedespeckled Cassini/SAR data over Titan's three largest sand seas: Belet,Shangri-La and Fensal. We present the first analysis of the backscatterfunctions extracted from despeckled SAR images that cover such a large range inincidence angles, including data from the beginning of the Cassini mission upto its Grand Finale. We show that dunes and interdunes have significantlydifferent physical properties. Dunes are found to be more microwave absorbentthan interdunes. Additionally, potential secondary bedforms, such as ripplesand avalanches, may have been detected, providing potential evidence forcurrently active dunes and sediment transport. Our modelling shows that theinterdunes have multi-scale roughnesses with higher dielectric constants thanthe dunes which have a low dielectric constant consistent with organic sand.The radar brightness of the interdunes can be explained by the presence of ashallow layer of significantly larger organic grains, possibly non-mobilized bythe winds. {Together, our} findings suggest that Titan's sand seas evolve underthe current multi-directional wind regimes with dunes that elongate with theircrests aligned in the residual drift direction.

Texture and composition of Titan's equatorial sand seas inferred from Cassini SAR data: Implications for aeolian transport and dune morphodynamics