Evidence for condensed-phase methane enhancement over Xanadu on Titan

Authors: M. Ádámkovics, I. de Pater, M. Hartung, J. W. Barnes

(Submitted on 13 Jul 2009)

Abstract: We present evidence for condensed phase methane precipitation near Xanadu using nine nights of observations from the SINFONI integral-field spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope and imaging analysis with empirical surface subtraction. Radiative transfer models are used to support the imaging technique by simulating the spectrometer datacubes and testing for variations in both the surface reflectivity spectrum and atmospheric opacity.

We use the models and observations together to argue against artifacts that may arise in the image analysis. High phase angle observations from Cassini/VIMS are used to test against surface scattering artifacts that may be confused with sources of atmospheric opacity. Although changes in the surface reflectivity spectrum can reproduce observations from a particular viewing geometry on a given night, multiple observations are best modeled by condensed-phase methane opacity near the surface.

These observations and modeling indicate that the condensed-phase methane opacity observed with this technique occurs predominantly near Xanadu and is most likely due to precipitation.

Comments: accepted for publication in Planetary and Space Science; this http URL

Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)

Cite as: arXiv:0907.2255v1 [astro-ph.EP]

Submission history

From: Mate Adamkovics [view email]

[v1] Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:08:43 GMT (4138kb,D)

http://arxiv.org/abs/0907.2255

"Condensed-phase methane enhancement."

Call it frikking RAIN already!

And scientists wonder why the public scratches their collective head and
ignores their pronouncements.

Reminds me of the 1997 NASA press conference shown on CSPAN about
results from Mars Pathfinder and the Sojourner rover it brought along.

The scientists present went on and on in geologyspeak until one reporter
finally asked them if they could compare the Martian surface properties
to anything similar on Earth.

You could see the lightbulb go off in the head of the NASA scientist,
who said it was similar to beach sand. You could then almost hear the
reporters collectively go "Ah, I get it now!" After that the scientists
loosened up and the reporters became much more interested and
attentive.

So no more frikkin "condensed-phase methane enhancement." Who are
you trying to impress anyway?