Tracing the gas composition of Titan's atmosphere with Herschel : Advances and Discoveries

The nitrogen-dominated atmosphere of Titan exhibits a great diversity and complexity of molecules and high organic material abundances. The origin of Titan atmosphere is poorly understood and its chemistry is rather complicated. In the framework of the Herschel guaranteed time key programme "Water and Related Chemistry in the Solar System" (Hartogh et al 2009), we carried out observations of the atmosphere of Titan with HIFI, PACS and SPIRE onboard Herschel (Rengel et al. 2014; Courtin et al. 2011, Moreno et al. 2011, 2012). Here we will review key results and discoveries on the atmosphere of Titan obtained with Herschel:-an inventory of species detected including some isotopes from a new survey between 51 and 671 microns.-the determination of the abundance of trace constituents and comparisons with previous efforts.-the unexpected detection of hydrogen isocyanide (HNC), a specie not previously identified in Titan's atmosphere, and the measurement of 16O/18O ratio in CO in Titan for the first time published.-the determination of the vertical profile of water vapor over the 100-450 km altitude range, distribution which does not follow previous predictions and allows to strength an Enceladus' activity as the source for the current water on Titan.With the advent of Herschel, these advances and discoveries allow a further characterization of the complex atmosphere of Titan and help to advance the study of the abundance distribution and the investigation of a variety of processes in Titan atmosphere.