The root of anomalously specular reflections from solid surfaces on Saturn’s moon Titan

Hofgartner, Jason D.; Hayes, Alexander G.; Campbell, D. B.; Lunine, Jonathan I.; Black, G. J.; MacKenzie, Shannon; Birch, Samuel; Elachi, C.; Kirk, R.; Gall, Alice Le; Lorenz, R. D.; Wall, S. D.

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16663-1

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The identification of lakes (SEDs) outside of the polar regions and into the mid-latitudes strengthens the argument that in Titan's past, lacustrine processes typically associated with the polar regions were operating long enough to leave behind surface expressions consistent with lacustrine processes (e.g., Barnes et al, 2011;Birch et al, 2018;Hofgartner et al, 2020;MacKenzie et al, 2014;Turtle et al, 2009). Previous studies have proposed that features in Tui and Hotei Regio, located at equatorial latitudes, are morphologically and topographically consistent with the polar empty lakes (Moore & Howard, 2010).…”

Section: Geologic Historysupporting

confidence: 71%

Geomorphological Map of the Soi Crater Region on Titan

et al. 2023

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We mapped the Soi crater region at 1:800,000 scale and produced a geomorphological map using methodology presented by Malaska, Lopes, Williams, et al. (2016), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.02.021 and Schoenfeld et al. (2021), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114516. This region spans longitude 110° to 180°W and latitude 0° to 60°N and is representative of the transition between the equatorial, mid‐latitude, and high‐latitude northern regions of Titan. We used Cassini Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) as our primary mapping data set. For areas where SAR was not available, we used lower resolution data from the Imaging Science Subsystem, the Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, radiometry, and high‐altitude SAR for complete mapping coverage of the region. We identified 22 geomorphological units, 3 of which have been discussed in existing literature but have not yet been incorporated into our mapping investigations. These include sharp‐edged depressions (bse), ramparts (brh), and bright gradational plains (pgh). All six major terrain classes are represented in this region: Craters, Labyrinth, Hummocky/mountainous, Plains, Dunes, and Basin and Lakes. We find that plains dominate the surface of the Soi crater region, comprising ∼73% of the mapped area, followed by dunes (∼14%), mountains/hummocky terrains (∼12%), basin and lakes (∼0.7%), labyrinth terrains (∼0.5%), and crater terrains (∼0.4%). We also observe empty lakes as far south as 40°N. The Soi crater region largely has the same collection and proportion of geomorphological units to other mapped regions on Titan. These results further support the hypothesis that surface processes are, broadly speaking, the same across Titan's middle and equatorial latitudes, with the exception of Xanadu.

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Section: Geologic Historysupporting

confidence: 71%

Geomorphological Map of the Soi Crater Region on Titan

et al. 2023

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“…15). This region is suspected to be a paleo sea (Moore and Howard, 2010;Hofgartner et al, 2020). While it is not incompatible with an old impact crater formation, as seas may form in craters, it casts a doubt on the origin of the water-ice signature enhancement at the border of Tui Regio, where the channels end.…”

Section: Delta and Evaporitesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Distribution and intensity of water ice signature in South Xanadu and Tui Regio

Coutelier

Cordier

Seignovert

et al. 2021

Icarus

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This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

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“…15). This region is suspected to be a paleo sea (Moore & Howard 2010;Hofgartner et al 2020). While it is not incompatible with an old impact crater formation, as seas may form in craters, it casts a doubt on the origin of the water-ice signature enhancement at the border of Tui Regio, where the channels end.…”

Section: Delta and Evaporitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We focused our study on Titan's river bed, where the erosion due to liquid hydrocarbon could have revealed the bedrock, and where we could have clues on the sediment transport. Here we propose a study of the water ice signal distribution in South Xanadu and Tui Regio, where there are river channels (Le Gall et al 2010), paleo-seas of hydrocarbons (Hofgartner et al 2020), and terrains classified as IR-blue patches by Brossier et al (2018). We employ a photometric analysis combined with an original method based on indicators to characterize the relative strength of the water-ice signature on the chosen VIMS cubes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution and intensity of water ice signature in South Xanadu and Tui Regio

Coutelier¹,

Cordier²,

Rannou³

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Titan's surface was revealed by Cassini 's instruments, showing the presence of liquid hydrocarbons in lakes, and features like dry riverbed. In order to study the sediment transport in Titan's channels and to map distribution of the water-ice signature in these terrains, we use a radiative transfer model to retrieve the surface albedo, after we estimated VIMS error via an original method. We also establish a criteria related to the intensity of the water ice signature. The tuning of the radiative transfer model shows that the fractal dimension of Titan's aerosols is higher than previously thought, around 2.3 -2.4. We find spots of increasing signal of water ice downstream, at the margins of Tui Regio, that could correspond to alluvial fans, deltas or crater rims. We also observe a very low water ice signal on Tui Regio, with a positive gradient between the central region and the boundary of the area, possibly due to the thickness variation of an evaporitic layer. The riverbeds show within the error bars a decreasing grain size from the top to the bottom of the channels.

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The root of anomalously specular reflections from solid surfaces on Saturn’s moon Titan

Cited by 8 publications

References 37 publications

Geomorphological Map of the Soi Crater Region on Titan

Geomorphological Map of the Soi Crater Region on Titan

Distribution and intensity of water ice signature in South Xanadu and Tui Regio

Distribution and intensity of water ice signature in South Xanadu and Tui Regio

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