Discovery of lake-effect clouds on Titan

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of sporadic small-scale clouds on Titan's north pole, likely caused by methane convection similar to terrestrial lake-effect clouds, revealing a new aspect of Titan's meteorology.

Contribution

It presents the first evidence of lake-effect cloud activity on Titan, linking surface lakes to atmospheric convection in a cold winter polar environment.

Findings

Detection of small-scale clouds beneath a polar ethane cloud

Cloud activity confined to latitudes of hydrocarbon lakes

Cloud properties suggest methane convection and condensation

Abstract

Images from instruments on Cassini as well as from telescopes on the ground reveal the presence of sporadic small-scale cloud activity in the cold late-winter north polar of Saturn's large moon Titan. These clouds lie underneath the previously discovered uniform polar cloud attributed to a quiescent ethane cloud at ~40 km and appear confined to the same latitudes as those of the largest known hydrocarbon lakes at the north pole of Titan. The physical properties of these clouds suggest that they are due to methane convection and condensation. Such convection has not been predicted for the cold winter pole, but can be caused by a process in many ways analogous to terrestrial lake-effect clouds. The lakes on Titan are a key connection between the surface and the meteorological cycle.