SPACE — Titan, the moon of the planet Saturn, is one of the space objects that is said to be similar to Earth. One of the most amazing discoveries made by the American Space Agency’s (NASA) Cassini probe is that Titan has a number of lakes.
Now, scientists have succeeded in creating a model that characterizes the winds on Titan. According to scientists, the winds on Titan are similar to the winds on Earth. However, the winds on Titan are much weaker than on Earth.
So future explorers may be able to experience the pleasure of boating in a sea of liquid hydrocarbons, but explorers will find it difficult to sail.
What are Titans?
Titan is a giant moon with a thick atmosphere. Titan has long been thought to offer suitable conditions for liquid methane and ethane on its surface.
According to Cassini’s findings, the largest lake on Titan is hundreds of kilometers to more than 1,100 km long, so it is called an ocean. The investigation also discovered hundreds of other small lakes, ranging from a few kilometers to 240 km.
Some of these bodies feature intricate shorelines, and many cluster near the north pole in what is called the Titanic Lake District.
On Earth, the sea and large lakes can influence local wind conditions. This is because seas and lakes take longer than land to warm up and cool down during the day-night cycle. The temperature differences caused by these factors produce land breezes.
Seeing these conditions, the question arises, how do the large methane lakes on Titan affect the winds there?
Previous research has explored this with 2D models. Audrey Chatain in the Department of Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, and her colleagues simulated the movement of the atmosphere around Titan’s lakes in all three dimensions.
Chatain’s model shows that although conditions on Titan and Earth are very different, the winds that form around Titan’s lakes are actually similar to those on Earth. The similarity is in terms of the extent of the wind above the surface and how far the wind penetrates into land.
His team also found that these surface winds were strongest around the edges of the largest seas, and over lakes closer to the equator during the summer, as expected.
But even in these situations, Chatain calculated that the lake’s winds never exceeded a breeze of 0.2 m/s. This speed is much slower than similar lake winds on Earth which are around 5 m/s.
He noted that even the strongest lake winds on Titan would not be enough to create wind-driven waves in Titan’s oceans.
2023-11-28 22:22:00
#Scientists #Character #Winds #Titan #Saturns #Largest #Moon
