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The Bathymetry of Moray Sinus at Titan's Kraken Mare
Author(s) -
Poggiali V.,
Hayes A. G.,
Mastrogiuseppe M.,
Le Gall A.,
Lalich D.,
GómezLeal I.,
Lunine J. I.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: planets
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9100
pISSN - 2169-9097
DOI - 10.1029/2020je006558
Subject(s) - geology , seafloor spreading , bathymetry , geodesy , titan (rocket family) , physics , geophysics , astrobiology , oceanography
Moray Sinus is an estuary located at the northern end of Titan's Kraken Mare. The Cassini RADAR altimeter acquired three segments over this mare during the T104 flyby of Titan, on August 21, 2014. Herein, we present a detailed analysis of the received echoes. Some of these waveforms exhibit a reflection from the seafloor, from up to85 − 18 + 28m of depth (1 σ error). Monte Carlo simulations have been performed in order to assess the most probable values and estimation errors for the seafloor depth. Insights from this study, featuring the synergic use of the synthetic aperture radar images coupled to the altimetry and passive radiometry datasets, have been used to constrain the dielectric properties (i.e., absorptivity of the liquid) and roughness of this region of Kraken Mare. The resulting Ku‐band specific attenuation of the liquid is17 − 3 + 3dB/μs, corresponding to a loss tangent of4.6 − 0.9 + 0.9× 10 − 5, which is very similar to the loss tangent estimated at Ligeia Mare. The data in hand do not permit us to discern the most likely explanation for the lack of a seafloor reflection from the main body of Kraken Mare: either a very deep sea or a more absorbing liquid composition. However, if the main body of Kraken Mare is characterized by an absorption similar to Moray Sinus, then based on models of the response to altimetry mode observations we can conclude that it exceeds 100 m of depth, which is also compatible with radiometry observations.