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Observational Evidence for Summer Rainfall at Titan's North Pole
Author(s) -
Dhingra Rajani D.,
Barnes Jason W.,
Brown Robert H.,
Burrati Bonnie J.,
Sotin Christophe,
Nicholson Phillip D.,
Baines Kevin H.,
Clark Roger N.,
Soderblom Jason M.,
Jauman Ralf,
Rodriguez Sebastien,
Mouélic Stéphane Le,
Turtle Elizabeth P.,
Perry Jason E.,
Cottini Valeria,
Jennings Don E.
Publication year - 2019
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 - 10.1029/2018gl080943
Subject(s) - titan (rocket family) , ephemeral key , geology , atmosphere of titan , brightness , environmental science , astrobiology , atmospheric sciences , physics , astronomy , algorithm , computer science
Methane rain on Saturn's moon Titan makes it the only place, other than Earth, where rain interacts with the surface. When and where that rain wets the surface changes seasonally in ways that remain poorly understood. Here we report the discovery of a bright ephemeral feature covering an area of 120,000 km 2 near Titan's north pole in observations from Cassini's near‐infrared instrument, Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer on 7 June 2016. Based on the overall brightness, spectral characteristics, and geologic context, we attribute this new feature to specular reflections from a rain‐wetted solid surface like those off of a sunlit wet sidewalk. The reported observation is the first documented rainfall event at Titan's north pole and heralds the arrival of the northern summer (through climatic evidence), which has been delayed relative to model predictions. This detection helps constrain Titan's seasonal change and shows that the “wet‐sidewalk effect can be used to identify other rain events.”