Solar system-wide weather crash? Storm the size of Texas engulfs Saturn’s moon

  

Weather patterns have morphed on Saturn’s moon Titan. (left) In 2005, the planet’s atmosphere appears relatively stable.  Now the icy moon has storm, shown in shape of white arrow, 1500 km long (right)

August 18, 2011 – SATURN – Titan is making news again, this time with Cassini images from 2010 showing a storm nearly as big as Texas. Jonathan Mitchell from UCLA and his research team have published their findings which help answer the question: What could cause such large storms to develop on a freezing cold world? In the study by Mitchell and his team, a model of Titan’s global weather was created to understand how atmospheric waves affect weather patterns on Titan. During their research, the team discovered a “stenciling” effect that creates distinct cloud shapes, such as the arrow-shaped cloud shown in the Cassini image above. “These atmospheric waves are somewhat like the natural, resonant vibration of a wine glass,” Mitchell said. “Individual clouds might ‘ring the bell,’ so to speak, and once the ringing starts, the clouds have to respond to that vibration.” Titan is the only other body in the solar system (aside from Earth) known to have an active “liquid cycle.” Much like Titan’s warmer cousin Earth, the small moon has an atmosphere primarily composed of Nitrogen. Interestingly enough Titan’s atmosphere is roughly the same mass as Earth’s and has about 1.5 times the surface pressure. At the extremely low temperatures on Titan, hydrocarbons such as methane appear in liquid form, rather than the gaseous form found on Earth. With an active liquid both on the surface and in the atmosphere of Titan, clouds form and create rain. In the case of Titan, the rain on the plain is mainly methane. Water on Titan is rock-hard, due to temperatures hovering around -200 c. In another parallel to earth, the weather patterns on Titan created by the atmospheric waves can create intense rainstorms, sometimes with more than 20 times Titan’s average seasonal rainfall. These intense storms may cause erosion patterns that help form the rivers seen on Titan’s surface.  Mitchell described Titan’s climate as “all-tropics,” basically comparing the weather to what is usually found near Earth’s equator.  Could these storms be Titan’s equivalent of monsoon season? –Universe Today