Mapping Titan's surface features within the visible spectrum via Cassini VIMS

Vixie, G.; Barnes, Jason W.; Bow, J.; Mouëlic, Stéphane Le; Rodríguez, S.; Brown, R. H.; Cerroni, P.; Tosi, F.; Buratti, B. J.; Sotin, C.; Filacchione, G.; Capaccioni, F.; Coradini, A.

doi:10.1016/j.pss.2011.03.021

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…[] as a spectrally distinct unit in composition, especially because of its anomalous brightness at 5 µm which has been confirmed using updated VIMS maps from Vixie et al . []. Barnes et al .…”

Section: Context and Description Of Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface albedo spectral properties of geologically interesting areas on Titan

Solomonidou

Hirtzig

Coustenis

et al. 2014

J. Geophys. Res. Planets

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We investigate the nature and possible formation processes of three areas on Titan's surface which have been suggested as geologically interesting: Hotei Regio, Tui Regio, and Sotra Patera. We also reanalyze the spectral characteristics of the Huygens Landing Site. We apply a statistical Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and a radiative transfer (RT) method on the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer Datacubes in order to retrieve the surface albedo of distinct spectral units in the near infrared. We have been able to exploit only a subset of the currently available Hotei Regio data, which are, in general, not optimal in terms of geometry for an analysis with a plane-parallel RT code. Our inferred surface albedos present generally higher values from 1 to 2 μm and lower ones at 0.94 and in the 2.6-5 μm region. The Regions of Interest (RoIs) within Hotei Regio, Tui Regio, and Sotra Patera are always significantly brighter than the surrounding areas. The largest variations are found longward of 2 μm and mainly at 5 μm. This higher surface albedo with respect to the surrounding area and, in general, the fact that the spectral behavior is different for each of these areas, is probably indicative of diverse chemical compositions and origins. We compare the spectral albedos with some suggested surface candidates on Titan (such as H 2 O, CO 2 , and CH 4 ices, as well as tholin) and discuss possible chemical composition variations as well as other interpretations.

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Section: Context and Description Of Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface albedo spectral properties of geologically interesting areas on Titan

Solomonidou

Hirtzig

Coustenis

et al. 2014

J. Geophys. Res. Planets

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“…Scattering by haze aerosol particles smears visibility of Titan's surface, particularly at short wavelengths where haze particles have large extinctions (Smith et al 1981;Richardson et al 2004;Porco et al 2005;Tomasko & West 2010;Maltagliati et al 2015a). Gaseous methane, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide in Titan's atmosphere absorb light at most near-infrared wavelengths, permitting transmission from the surface only within distinct spectral windows (Griffith 1993;Smith et al 1996; Barnes et al 2007;Vixie et al 2012). And Titan's heterogeneous surface (Griffith 1993; Barnes et al 2005) exhibits spectral units with varying reflectance phase functions, including specular reflections off the smooth liquid lakes and seas (Stephan et al 2010;Soderblom et al 2012; Barnes et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spherical Radiative Transfer in C++ (SRTC++): A Parallel Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer Model for Titan

Barnes

MacKenzie

Young

et al. 2018

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We present a new computer program, SRTC++, to solve spatial problems associated with explorations of Saturn's moon Titan. The program implements a three-dimensional structure well-suited to addressing shortcomings arising from plane-parallel radiative transfer approaches. SRTC++'s design uses parallel processing in an object-oriented, compiled computer language (C++) leading to a flexible and fast architecture. We validate SRTC++ using analytical results, semianalytical radiative transfer expressions, and an existing Titan plane-parallel model. SRTC++ complements existing approaches, addressing spatial problems like near-limb and near-terminator geometries, non-Lambertian surface phase functions (including specular reflections), and surface albedo nonuniformity.

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“…Difficulty in disambiguating surface and atmospheric contributions to infrared spectra impedes our understanding of the surface chemistry of Saturn's moon Titan. Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS; Brown et al 2004) 0.35-5.12 μm spectra of Titan show a combination of atmospheric and surface contributions within narrow spectral windows in the visible and near-visible (at 0.64, 0.68, 0.75, and 0.83 μm; Vixie et al 2012) and near-infrared (at 0.93, 1.08, 1.28, 1.58, 2.0, 2.7, 2.8, and 5.0 μm; e.g., Barnes et al 2007). The resulting degeneracy hinders studies of both the surface and the atmosphere.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Transmission Spectrum of Titan's North Polar Atmosphere From a Specular Reflection of the Sun

Barnes

Clark

Sotin

et al. 2013

ApJ

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Cassini/VIMS T85 observations of a solar specular reflection off of Kivu Lacus (87. • 4N 241. • 1E) provide an empirical transmission spectrum of Titan's atmosphere. Because this observation was acquired from short range (33,000 km), its intensity makes it visible within the 2.0, 2.7, and 2.8 μm atmospheric windows in addition to the 5 μm window where all previous specular reflections have been seen. The resulting measurement of the total one-way normal atmospheric optical depth (corresponding to haze scattering plus haze and gas absorption) provides strong empirical constraints on radiative transfer models. Using those models, we find that the total haze column abundance in our observation is 20% higher than the Huygens equatorial value. Ours is the first measurement in the 2-5 μm wavelength range that probes all the way to the surface in Titan's arctic, where the vast majority of surface liquids are located. The specular technique complements other probes of atmospheric properties such as solar occultations and the direct measurements from Huygens. In breaking the degeneracy between surface and atmospheric absorptions, our measured optical depths will help to drive future calculations of deconvolved surface albedo spectra.

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Mapping Titan's surface features within the visible spectrum via Cassini VIMS

Cited by 18 publications

References 24 publications

Surface albedo spectral properties of geologically interesting areas on Titan

Surface albedo spectral properties of geologically interesting areas on Titan

Spherical Radiative Transfer in C++ (SRTC++): A Parallel Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer Model for Titan

A Transmission Spectrum of Titan's North Polar Atmosphere From a Specular Reflection of the Sun

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