Impact of the seasonal variations of composition on the temperature field of Titan’s stratosphere |
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Authors: | Sé bastien Lebonnois,Fré dé ric Hourdin,David Luz |
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Affiliation: | a Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, IPSL, CNRS/UPMC, Box 99, F-75252 Paris Cedex 05, France b Service d’ Aéronomie, IPSL, CNRS/UVSQ, Verrières-le-Buisson, France c Centro de Astronomia e Astrofísica da Universidade de Lisboa, Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal d Centre d’Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, CNRS/UPS, Toulouse, France |
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Abstract: | We investigate the role of seasonal variations of Titan’s stratospheric composition on the temperature. We use a general circulation model coupled with idealized chemical tracers that reproduce variations of ethane (C2H6), acetylene (C2H2), and hydrogen cyanide (HCN). Enhancement of the mole fractions of these compounds, at high latitudes in the winter hemisphere relative to their equatorial values, induces a relative decrease in temperature above approximately 0.2 mbar, with a peak amplitude around −20 K, and a relative increase in temperature below, around 1 mbar, with a peak amplitude around +7 K. These thermal effects are mainly due to the variations of the cooling to space induced by the varying distributions. The ethane, acetylene, and hydrogen cyanide variations affect the cooling rates in a similar way, with the dominant effect being due to ethane, though its latitudinal variations are small. |
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Keywords: | Titan Atmospheres, composition Radiative transfer |
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