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Convective plumes and the scarcity of Titan's clouds
Author(s) -
Lorenz Ralph D.,
Griffith Caitlin A.,
Lunine Jonathan I.,
McKay Christopher P.,
Rennò Nilton O.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2004gl021415
Subject(s) - titan (rocket family) , convection , troposphere , atmospheric sciences , atmosphere of titan , environmental science , astrobiology , meteorology , geology , physics
We show that simple thermodynamic models of convective plumes predict the area fraction of convective plumes (i.e., updrafts) in Titan's atmosphere to be ∼12 smaller than on Earth. This result is in agreement with predictions by sophisticated dynamical models and with the relative tropospheric cloud cover, which is only ∼1% on Titan. Rainstorms on Titan, being so rare, may be violent.