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Science 21 October 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5747, pp. 477 - 479
DOI: 10.1126/science.1116760
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Reports

Geographic Control of Titan's Mid-Latitude Clouds

Henry G. Roe,1* Michael E. Brown,1 Emily L. Schaller,1 Antonin H. Bouchez,2 Chadwick A. Trujillo3

Observations of Titan's mid-latitude clouds from the W. M. Keck and Gemini Observatories show that they cluster near 350°W longitude, 40°S latitude. These clouds cannot be explained by a seasonal shift in global circulation and thus presumably reflect a mechanism on Titan such as geysering or cryovolcanism in this region. The rate of volatile release necessary to trigger cloud formation could easily supply enough methane to balance the loss to photolysis in the upper atmosphere.

1 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
2 Caltech Optical Observatories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
3 Gemini Observatory, Hilo, HI 96720, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hroe{at}gps.caltech.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Widespread Morning Drizzle on Titan.
M. Adamkovics, M. H. Wong, C. Laver, and I. de Pater (2007)
Science 318, 962-965
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The dynamics behind Titan's methane clouds.
J. L. Mitchell, R. T. Pierrehumbert, D. M. W. Frierson, and R. Caballero (2006)
PNAS 103, 18421-18426
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Latitudinal Distribution of Clouds on Titan.
P. Rannou, F. Montmessin, F. Hourdin, and S. Lebonnois (2006)
Science 311, 201-205
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)