Titan's Albedo Research Articles

Simulations of Titan's Brightness by a Two-Dimensional Haze Model

We have used a 2-D microphysics model to study the effects of atmospheric motions on the albedo of Titan's thick haze layer. We compare our results to the observed variations of Titan's brightness with season and latitude. We use two wind fields; the first is a simple pole-to-pole Hadley cell that reverses twice a year. The second is based on the results of a preliminary Titan GCM. Seasonally varying wind fields, with horizontal velocities of about 1 cm sec−1at optical depth unity, are capable of producing the observed change in geometric albedo of about 10% over the Titan year. Neither of the two wind fields can adequately reproduce the latitudinal distribution of reflectivity seen byVoyager. At visible wavelengths, where only haze opacity is important, upwelling produces darkening by increasing the particle size at optical depth unity. This is due to the suspension of larger particles as well as the lateral removal of smaller particles from the top of the atmosphere. At UV wavelengths and at 0.89 μm the albedo is determined by the competing effects of the gas and the haze material. Gas is bright in the UV and dark at 0.89 μm. Haze transport at high altitudes controls the UV albedo and transport at low altitude controls the 0.89-μm albedo. Comparisons between the hemispheric contrast at UV, visible, and IR wavelengths can be diagnostic of the vertical structure of the wind field on Titan.

Evidence for surface heterogeneity on Titan

UNLIKE all other planetary satellites, Saturn's moon Titan has a massive atmosphere1–8. At visible wavelengths, a thick stratospheric haze hides the surface from view. The emission from Titan in the infrared is largely from methane, nitrogen and hydrogen also in the stratosphere4. In the near-infrared, however, the extinction from haze decreases, and narrow windows exist in which the atmosphere absorbs only weakly9–14, and through which we might therefore catch a glimpse of the surface. Within two of these windows, Lemmon et a1.15,16 recently observed a difference in Titan's albedo when the satellite was at eastern and western elongation with respect to Saturn. Although these observations could be taken to imply that Titan's surface is heterogeneous (and therefore is not covered by a global methane–ethane ocean as predicted previously7), they could also be explained by transient clouds. Here I present observations from two more rotational periods which record the same albedo difference, indicating that the heterogeneity is most unlikely to be associated with transient features and must be intrinsic to the surface. These results also imply that Titan is locked in a synchronous orbit about Saturn.

The albedo of Titan

Photometric observations of Titan since 1972 show a cyclical variation of about 10 percent. A minimum value of brightness and albedo apparently occurred in 1984. Spectrophotometric observations, made annualy since 1980 at 8 A resolution, 3295-8880 A, were used to derive the value p-asterisk = 0.156 + or - 0.010 for the integrated geometric albedo in 1984. Variations of the equivalent widths of spectral features were not seen.

A physical model of Titan's clouds

We have constructed a model of the physical processes controlling Titan's clouds. Our model produces clouds that qualitatively match the present observational constraints in a wide variety of model atmospheres, including those with low atmospheric pressures (25 mbar) and high atmospheric pressures. We find the following: (1) high atmospheric temperatures (160°K) are important so that there is a large scale height in the first few optical depths of cloud; (2) the aerosol mass production occurs at very low aerosol optical depth so that the cloud particles do not directly affect the photochemistry producing them; (3) the production rate of aerosol mass by chemical processes is probably greater than 3.5 × 10 −14 g cm −2 sec −1; (4) and the eddy diffusion coefficient is less than 5 × 10 6 cm 2 sec −1 except perhaps in the top optical depth of the cloud. Our model is not extremely sensitive to particle shape, but it is sensitive to particle density. Higher particle densities require larger aerosol mass production rates to produce satisfactory clouds. Particle densities of unity require a mass production rate on the order of 3.5 × 10 −13 g cm −2 sec −1. We also show that an increase in mass input causes a decrease in the mean particle size, as required by J. B. Pollack et al. (1980, Geophys. Res. Lett. 7, 829–832), to explain the observed correlation between the solar cycle and Titan's albedo; that coagulation need not be extremely inefficient in order to obtain realistic clouds as proposed by M. Podolak and E. Podolak (1980, Icarus 43, 73–83); that coagulation could be inefficient due to photoelectric charging of the particles; and, that the lifetime of particles near the altitude of unit optical depth is a few months, as required to explain the temporal variability observed by S. T. Suess and G. W. Lockwood and D. P. Cruikshank and J. S. Morgan (1979, Bull. Amer. Astron. Soc. 11, 564). Although Titan's aerosols are ottically thick in the vertical direction, the atmosphere is so extended that the horizontal visibility is greater than that found anywhere at Earth's surface.

Photochemical aerosols in Titan's atmosphere

The optical properties of polymers, produced photolytically from ethylene, which was detected in Titan's atmosphere and from acetylene or hydrogen cyanide which may be present there, were studied experimentally. It is shown that an aerosol consisting of polyethylene provides an excellent fit to the variation of Titan's albedo with wavelength, while polymers of acetylene or hydrogen cyanide do not. This fit seems to remove the requirement of nitrogen-bearing polymers, which was proposed earlier to account for Titan's red coloration. Therefore, Titan's coloration does not necessarily imply the presence of nitrogen in its atmosphere. It is also proposed that above the layer of larger aerosol particles, whose scattering determines the phase function, there are smaller particles of the same material, which act as an absorbing haze to darken and slightly redden the underlying aerosol. This high-altitude haze also causes the observed strong limb-darkening.

The albedo of Titan

The irradiance of Titan has been measured from 0.50 to 1.08μ in 30 Å band-passes spaced 0.01–0.02μ apart. Geometric albedos have been computed at the wavelenghts of measurement using a standard solar flux distribution after Labs and Neckel. The maximum value of p λ (0) is 0.37 at 0.68, 0.75, and 0.834μ, the minimum value, in the centers of the strongest methane absorption bands, is 0.10 at 0.887 and 1.012μ. The brightness of Titan at the time of the present measurements has been compared with that of previous modern photoelectric measurements. Within the apparent consistency of the different photoelectric systems, the brightness of Titan appears to undergo changes with time. A provisional curve of the geometric albedo from 0.30 to 4.0μ has been made by combining the present results with those of other authors, i.e., relative measurements of Titan from 0.30 to 0.50μ, and measurements of Jupiter and Saturn from 1.08 to 4.00μ. The latter are used to estimate the strengths of the methane absorption bands of Titan in that spectral range. The bolometric geometric albedo, p ∗(0) , is computed to be 0.21. A variety of current measurements of Titan indicate a substantial atmosphere, suggesting a value of the phase integral q = 1.30 ± 0.20 . The bolometric Bond albedo, A ∗ , is then 0.27 ± 0.04, giving an effective radiative temperature T e= 84 ± 2°K. The absorption band contours of Titan have been compared with those of Jupiter and Saturn at the same resolution. The bands of the planets are known to be due primarily to methane, and they show a very regular relationship, with those of Saturn being consistently deeper and wider. For Titan, the strengths of the bands are equal or less than those of Jupiter in the band centers, while the wings are stronger than those of Saturn. Previous photoelectric and photographic spectra have been examined for evidence of temporal variation of the methane path length in the atmosphere of Titan. Differences in measurement techniques prohibit detection of small differences. The only potential differences beyond experimental uncertainties are those of Kuiper (1944) and Harris (mid-fifties). Taking Kuiper's results at face value, Titan appears to have a shorter methane path length in 1972. Harris's results can be reconciled only by the doubtful hypothesis of an almost complete absence of methane at that time.