Abstract
Cassini/VIMS high-phase specular observations of Titan’s north pole during the T85 flyby show evidence for isolated patches of rough liquid surface within the boundaries of the sea Punga Mare. The roughness shows typical slopes of 6°±1°. These rough areas could be either wet mudflats or a wavy sea. Because of their large areal extent, patchy geographic distribution, and uniform appearance at low phase, we prefer a waves interpretation. Applying theoretical wave calculations based on Titan conditions our slope determination allows us to infer winds of 0.76±0.09 m/s and significant wave heights of n2^{+2}_{-1}n cm at the time and locations of the observation. If correct, these would represent the first waves seen on Titan’s seas, and also the first extraterrestrial sea-surface waves in general.
Highlights
Saturn’s moon Titan posesses the only known open surface liquids beyond Earth [1]
In the ‘Observation’ section we describe the Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) data that we interpret to show the waves in specular reflection
Our fit shows that the flux coming from the three isolated areas of Punga Mare studied is consistent with a rough liquid surface having characteristic slopes of 6°
Summary
Saturn’s moon Titan posesses the only known open surface liquids beyond Earth [1]. Those liquids take the form of lakes made primarily of methane, ethane, and dissolved nitrogen [2]. It shows a very bright specular reflection (in white in Figure 1 off a lake at 87.5°N called Kivu Lacus, which was previously used to derive an atmospheric transmission spectrum [20]). We suggest that the bright, specular pixels within Punga Mare in Figure 2 could represent a rough, wet surface at those particular locations. The brightness in this image represents the relative probability for a facet to be oriented in any given direction from the zenith (θ) and azimuthally (φ) with θ = 0.0° at the center of the image. VIMS T94 Punga Mare data 5 degrees Best−fit waves: 6+−1 degrees, increased I/F 7 degrees
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