Towards More Realistic Simulations of Air-Sea Interaction Over Lakes on Titan

The exchange of methane between the atmosphere and surface liquid reservoirs dominates the short time-scale methanological cycle. In this study, previous two-dimensional simulations of the exchange of methane vapor, sensible heat and momentum between the atmosphere and lakes are updated with the inclusion of radiative forcing and extended two three dimensions, including the introduction of realistic coastlines. The previous studies of Titan's air-sea exchange in two dimensions suggested that the exchange process was self-limiting. Evaporation from lakes produced a shallow but extremely stable marine layer that suppressed turbulent exchange. Furthermore, the circulation associated with the higher buoyancy of methane-rich atmosphere over the lake was offset by the oppositely directed thermal sea breeze circulation, which muted the mean wind. Two major weaknesses of this previous work were the neglect of radiative forcing and the imposition of two dimensionality that limited the full range of dynamical solutions. Based on early theoretical studies, it was thought that magnitude of turbulent energy flux exchanges would be much larger than radiative fluxes, thereby justifying the neglect of radiation, but the two-dimensional simulations indicated that this was not a valid assumption. The dynamical limitations of two-dimensional simulations are well known. Vorticity stretching (i.e., circulation intensification through vertical motion) is not possible and it is also not possible to produce dynamically balanced gradient wind-type circulations. Secondarily, the irregular shape of a realistic coastline cannot be expressed in two dimensions, and these realistic structures will generally induce complex convergence and divergence circulations in the atmosphere. The impact of radiative forcing and the addition of the third dimension on the air-sea exchange are presented.