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Titan's diverse landscapes as evidenced by Cassini RADAR's third and fourth looks at Titan |
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| Authors: | JI Lunine C Elachi SD Wall MD Allison R Boehmer P Encrenaz G Franceschetti G Hamilton WTK Johnson RL Kirk R Lorenz DO Muhleman SJ Ostro P Paillou F Posa LE Roth S Shaffer B Stiles S Vetrella CA Wood H Zebker E Karkoschka E McFarlane B Kazeminejad |
| Institution: | a INAF-IFSI, 00133 Rome, Italy b Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA c Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA d Goddard Institute for Space Studies, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, New York, NY 10025, USA e Observatoire de Paris, 92195 Meudon, France f Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, 00131 Rome, Italy g Facoltá di Ingegneria, 80125 Naples, Italy h U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA i Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA j CNR-IASF, 00133 Rome, Italy k Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers, UMR 5804, 2, rue de l'Observatoire, BP 89, 33270 Floirac, France l Universitá La Sapienza, 00184 Rome, Italy m INFM and Dip. Interateneo di Fisica, Politecnico di Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy n Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA o Proxemy Research, Rectortown, VA 20140, USA p Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA q Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA r CO.RI.S.T.A., via J.F. Kennedy 5, 80125 Naples, Italy s DLR, German Space Operations Center, D-82234 Wessling, Germany |
| Abstract: | Cassini's third and fourth radar flybys, T7 and T8, covered diverse terrains in the high southern and equatorial latitudes, respectively. The T7 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) swath is somewhat more straightforward to understand in terms of a progressive poleward descent from a high, dissected, and partly hilly terrain down to a low flat plain with embayments and deposits suggestive of the past or even current presence of hydrocarbon liquids. The T8 swath is dominated by dunes likely made of organic solids, but also contain somewhat enigmatic, probably tectonic, features that may be partly buried or degraded by erosion or relaxation in a thin crust. The dark areas in T7 show no dune morphology, unlike the dark areas in T8, but are radiometrically warm like the dunes. The Huygens landing site lies on the edge of the T8 swath; correlation of the radar and Huygens DISR images allows accurate determination of its coordinates, and indicates that to the north of the landing site sit two large longitudinal dunes. Indeed, had the Huygens probe trajectory been just 10 km north of where it actually was, images of large sand dunes would have been returned in place of the fluvially dissected terrain actually seen—illustrating the strong diversity of Titan's landscapes even at local scales. |
| Keywords: | Titan Radar observations Satellites surfaces Geological processes Geophysics |
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