Investigation of Titan's meteorology in the light of the Cassini/Huygens mission by means of a general circulation model

• Applicant: Dr. Tetsuya Tokano
• Subject Area: Geophysics
• Term: from 2005 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 18407334

Saturn s largest moon Titan is surrounded by a thick nitrogen-rich atmosphere with an Earth-like thermal structure. Titan s atmosphere represents an outstanding natural laboratory to investigate the meteorology in the context of comparative planetology. Comprehensive atmospheric models such as general circulation models (GCMs) have already contributed much to the understanding of how Titan s atmospheric engine may be working, but the scarcity of data from the lower atmosphere and surface often caused ambiguity in the data interpretation. The ongoing Cassini/Huygens mission at Titan is beginning to unveil the enigma of the lower atmosphere and opens new perspectives in the exploration of Titan s atmosphere and surface. The proposed investigation aims at understanding the observed data concerning the dynamic meteorology of Titan and its implication for Titan s surface and exogeneous geology. The study comprises a major update of the existing GCM with Cassini/Huygens data, investigating the possible mechanism of the observed wind profile and the interaction between the surface and atmosphere as well as benchmarking of existing Titan GCMs.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1115: Mars and the Terrestrial Planets