Jason W. Barnes Associate Professor of Physics University of Idaho and the Cassini VIMS Team

Specular Reflections from Titan’s Punga Mare Seen by Cassini/VIMS Indicate Surface Roughness: Waves? Jason W. Barnes Associate Professor of Physics University of Idaho and the Cassini VIMS Team Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2014 March 17 Houston, TX

T85 CM_1721848119_1

Lakes from a Plane at Dusk

Inferring Wave Height

Bottomless Lakes, NM (thanks Karl Mitchell)

Conclusions • Off-specular signal in Punga Mare from T85 indicates roughened, liquid surface • Typical slope angle 6 +/- 1 degrees • Possibilities: • Waves • Wet, liquid-covered mudflat • Moist or partially dry surface • Waves seems most likely, given T94 VIMS obs of Punga, and spatially isolated nature of wave activity • Isolated wave patches, locally induced by winds just at or above threshold – 2cm high • First extraterrestrial ocean waves! • Titan’s seas are liquid, and don’t have viscosity of molasses • Indicates winds picking up as northern spring progresses? • Specular wave searches can constrain winds in the future

Tilt Needed for Specular

Facet Directions, with Sun

Jason W. Barnes Associate Professor of Physics University of Idaho and the Cassini VIMS Team

Jason W. Barnes Associate Professor of Physics University of Idaho and the Cassini VIMS Team

Presentation Transcript

Jason de Koff, Ph.D. Associate Professor Tennessee State University

Jason Gurdak Coordinator of UNESCO GRAPHIC, Associate Professor

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Angela Violi Associate Professor, University of Michigan

Miles McQueen, Jason Wright, Lawrence Wellman Idaho National Laboratory and University of Idaho

Bob Lad Professor of Physics, University of Maine

Gema Pérez-Sánchez Associate Professor of Spanish University of Miami

Paul Panetta, Ph.D. ARA and VIMS Professor Carl Friedrichs, VIMS

Associate professor of Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Anthony (Tony) Dinsmore Associate Professor of Physics University of Massachusetts Amherst

Marian Barnes, Professor of Social Policy, University of Brighton Marian.Barnes@brighton.ac.uk

Jason Crain School of Physics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh UK

W. Conrad Liles, MD, PhD Associate Chair and Professor of Medicine University of Washington

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Miles McQueen, Jason Wright, Lawrence Wellman Idaho National Laboratory and University of Idaho

INTERACTOMICS RAM SAMUDRALA ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON