VIMS Near-Infrared Imaging and Spectra of Precipitation-Associated Surface Changes
Abstract
Cassini ISS saw large-scale surface darkenings in the wake of a tropical cloudburst event in 2010 September. In concert with the abstract by Turtle et al., in this presentation we show that weeks to months after darkening the surfaces did not revert to their pre-cloudburst brightness, but rather became brighter. VIMS observations of four distinct areas show these brightenings: Yalaing Terra, Hetpet Regio, Concordia Regio, and Adiri. Each study area brightened within each near-infrared atmospheric window, though not equally. In each case the brightened areas fade to their original spectra over a timescale of about a year. This rapid reversion time is inconsistent with chemical alteration of the surface - haze fallout would take hundreds to tens of thousands of years to recover an altered surface. Instead the deposition and removal of a volatile layer is more consistent with the observed evolution. Different scenarios for the production and removal of such a layer are possible. We will discuss these scenarios, which include evaporative cooled frost that later sublimates, and dissolution and reprecipitation of surface organics that may later be eroded by wind.
- Publication:
-
Titan Through Time; Unlocking Titan's Past, Present and Future
- Pub Date:
- April 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012ttt..work...51B