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Unmanned Spaceflight.com > Outer Solar System > Saturn > Cassini Huygens > Titan
Julius
I think this subject merits a new topic and expect it to be topping the list in the near future as Cassini tracks further changes on Titan with the shifting seasons!
So it seems that Ontario Lacus is shrinking as autumn approaches.No changes have been detected as yet with the northern lakes.If the southern lake is shrinking,does that mean that northern lakes should be getting bigger as time passes with the coming spring in the northern hemisphere? unsure.gif
rlorenz

It's a reasonable thing to expect, but there are some considerations to bear in mind

1. Ontario has very shallow (1E-3 to 1E-4 slopes - like tidal flats on Earth, or dry lake beds like Racetrack Playa)
margins. This means a drop in liquid level translates into a large horizontal recession of the margin. Comparable
expansion in the margins of northern lakes/seas will only be visible in the same way if they have comparable
surface slopes. They may occur (e.g. around Mayda Insula) but many slopes are steeper, notably the small
lakes which are in steep pits.

2. The seasons may be asymmetric - perhaps the precipitation will only really get going late in northern summer
(after Cassini's solstice mission is over)

3. Let's assume mass is conserved - all the evaporation from Ontario ends up in Kraken and Ligeia. But these
bodies have >10x the surface area, so a meter drop in Ontario will only give a 0.1m rise in level of the northern
seas, which may be difficult to observe.

Note that 0.1-1m level changes may occur with azimuthal variation due to tides and wind stress on lake surfaces.

So, changes may occur, and they may or may not be visible. We'll be watching.
Decepticon
QUOTE
So it seems that Ontario Lacus is shrinking


I would wait to see visual confirmation on this.

Julius
Its a great pleasure to have RLORENZ s thoughts on this topic!So here is my next question for you:what is expected to happen in the equatorial latitudes with changing seasons...i know that most of equatorial flats are covered with dunes and thus seem to be mostly dry...but we've seen signs of flooding eg huygens landing area any chance we could see signs of fluvial activity in the lower latitudes??
rlorenz
QUOTE (Julius @ Jul 18 2010, 01:16 PM) *
Its a great pleasure to have RLORENZ s thoughts on this topic!So here is my next question for you:what is expected to happen in the equatorial latitudes with changing seasons...i know that most of equatorial flats are covered with dunes and thus seem to be mostly dry...but we've seen signs of flooding eg huygens landing area any chance we could see signs of fluvial activity in the lower latitudes??


I'd guess that to a first order, nothing much happens at the equator, for the simple reason that the diurnally-averaged
sunlight input changes little over the course of the year (I'd need to check but it may change more ~20% due to
the eccentricity of Saturns orbit than it does due to the solar declination). I guess broad-brush the same is true
on Earth and Mars (and is in stark contrast to the dramatic changes between winter and summer in the polar
regions)

That said, the wind direction changes (apparently) around equinox, giving rise to the eastwards-pointing dunes
which paradoxically seemed at odds with the generally westwards flow.

My suspicion is that the fluvial landforms are scars of much longer-term variations in weather, not a seasonally-driven
thing.
Julius
We're starting to see seasonal change in cloud formations over both hemispheres in line with expectations...more clouds over the southern hemisphere and relatively clear skies over the north pole.....i'm curious when we'll start seeing changes on the surface as a result of this!
Julius
Huge cloud formations over the equatorial region!
scalbers
Please note my post here:

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...mp;#entry165763
Julius
The article just released regarding methane rains along equatorial latitudes answers my earlier question of wetter times in this region as suggested by the huygens landing site.
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