Climate of Titan
Titan's climate mirrors Earth's with methane instead of water.
Last updated
Titan's surface temperature averages about 94 K, kept warmer by a methane greenhouse effect that raises it by roughly 21 K.[1][2] An anti-greenhouse effect from atmospheric haze lowers the surface by about 9 K, resulting in a net temperature about 12 K above the 82 K effective temperature.[2] Titan receives only about 1 percent as much sunlight as Earth.[1]
Quick Facts
- Average surface temperature
- 94 K (−179.2 °C; −290.5 °F)
- Sunlight received
- about 1% of Earth's
- Greenhouse effect temperature rise
- about 21 K
- Effective temperature without atmosphere
- 82 K (−191.2 °C; −312.1 °F)
- Orbital period driving seasons
- about 29.5 Earth years
- Day length
- about 15 days and 22 hours
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
Titan's axial tilt relative to the Sun is about 27 degrees, similar to Earth's, so seasons are driven by sunlight intensity varying with latitude.[3][4] Cassini imaged a rotating polar vortex over Titan's south pole in June 2012, interpreted as evidence of a developing southern polar hood.[5] Because Titan rotates slowly, its atmospheric circulation takes the form of a single large Hadley cell.[6] As seasons change, the northern hemisphere's hydrocarbon lakes enlarge during winter, and haze diminishes around the equinoxes.[7]
What the cited sources add
Dr. Athena Coustenis from the Paris-Meudon Observatory analyzed data spanning 30 years and found that Titan's changing seasons affect it more than previously thought.[4] A haze layer at Titan's northern pole is significantly reduced during the equinox because of atmospheric circulation patterns.[4] Cassini's observations of the south pole's transition from fall to winter marked the first time any spacecraft has seen the onset of a Titan winter.[8] The build-up of southern ice clouds indicates that the direction of Titan's global circulation is changing.[8]
Robert Samuelson, a Goddard researcher, stated that the onset of southern winter appears much more severe than the late stages of Titan's northern winter.[8] Titan's polar ice clouds form higher in the atmosphere by a different process than the methane clouds in the troposphere.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Climate of Titan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Titan: A World Much Like Earth", Space.com, August 6, 2009; Cottini, "Water vapor in Titan's stratosphere from Cassini CIRS far-infrared spectra", Icarus, 2012, p. 855–862; Cottini, "Water vapor in Titan's stratosphere from Cassini CIRS far-infrared spectra", Icarus, 2012, p. 855–862; McKay, "Titan: Greenhouse and Anti-greenhouse Effects on Titan", Science, September 6, 1991, p. 1118–1121 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Climate of Titan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: McKay, "Titan: Greenhouse and Anti-greenhouse Effects on Titan", Science, September 6, 1991, p. 1118–1121; "PIA06236: Titan: Complex 'Anti-greenhouse'", Planetary Photojournal, May 2, 2005; McKay, "Titan: Greenhouse and Anti-greenhouse Effects on Titan", Science, September 6, 1991, p. 1118–1121 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Climate of Titan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Titan: Facts", NASA, 2 May 2018; Hawking, "Unlocking the Universe", Random House, January 9, 2020, p. 127; "Facts about Titan", European Space Agency (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Saturn's moon Titan shows surprising seasonal changes", ScienceDaily, September 28, 2012. facts only, no text reused. sciencedaily.com
- Wikipedia, "Climate of Titan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Titan's South Polar Vortex in Motion", Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory For Operations, 10 July 2012; "Huge vortex spied on Saturn moon", BBC News, July 11, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Climate of Titan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Way the Wind Blows on Titan", Jet Propulsion Laboratory, June 1, 2007; Rannou, "The Latitudinal Distribution of Clouds on Titan", Science, January 13, 2006, p. 201–205 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Climate of Titan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Saturn's moon Titan shows surprising seasonal changes", ScienceDaily, September 28, 2012; Morrow, "Monstrous Ice Cloud in Titan's South Polar Region", NASA, November 10, 2015 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Morrow, "Monstrous Ice Cloud in Titan's South Polar Region", NASA, November 10, 2015. facts only, no text reused. nasa.gov
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Climate of Titan (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Moons of Saturn
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Climate of Titan (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced