Titan's temporal evolution in stratospheric trace gases near the poles

International audienceWe analyze spectra acquired by the Cassini/Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) at high resolution from October 2010 until September 2014 in nadir mode. Up until mid 2012, Titan’s Northern atmosphere exhibited the enriched chemical content found since the Voyager days (November 1980), with a peak around the Northern Spring Equinox (NSE) in 2009. Since then, we have observed the appearance at Titan’s south pole of several trace species for the first time, such as HC3N and C6H6, observed only at high northern latitudes before equinox. We investigate here latitudes poleward of 50°S and 50°N from 2010 (after the Southern Autumnal Equinox) until 2014. For some of the most abundant and longest-lived hydrocarbons (C2H2, C2H6 and C3H8) and CO2, the evolution in the past 4 years at a given latitude is not very significant within error bars especially until mid-2013. In more recent dates, these molecules show a trend for increase in the south. This trend is dramatically more pronounced for the other trace species, especially in 2013–2014, and at 70°S relative to 50°S. These two regions then demonstrate that they are subject to different dynamical processes in and out of the polar vortex region. For most species, we find higher abundances at 50°N compared to 50°S, with the exception of C3H8, CO2, C6H6 and HC3N, which arrive at similar mixing ratios after mid-2013. While the 70°N data show generally no change with a trend rather to a small decrease for most species within 2014, the 70°S results indicate a strong enhancement in trace stratospheric gases after 2012. The 663 cm−1 HC3N and the C6H6 674 cm−1 emission bands appeared in late 2011/early 2012 in the south polar regions and have since then exhibited a dramatic increase in their abundances. At 70°S HC3N, HCN and C6H6 have increased by 3 orders of magnitude over the past 3–4 years while other molecules, including C2H4, C3H4 and C4H2, have increased less sharply (by 1–2 orders of magnitude). This is a strong indication of the rapid and sudden buildup of the gaseous inventory in the southern stratosphere during 2013–2014, as expected as the pole moves deeper into winter shadow. Subsidence gases that accumulate in the absence of ultraviolet sunlight, evidently increased quickly since 2012 and some of them may be responsible also for the reported haze decrease in the north and its appearance in the south at the same time

Coupling photochemistry with haze formation in Titan's atmosphere, Part I: Model description

International audienceWe introduce a new 1D coupled Radiative/Convective-Photochemical-Microphysical model for a planetary atmosphere and apply it to Titan. The model incorporates detailed radiation transfer calculations for the description of the shortwave and longwave fluxes which provide the vertical structure of the radiation field and temperature profile. These are used for the generation of the photochemistry inside the atmosphere from the photolysis of Titan's main constituents, nitrogen (N 2) and methane (CH 4). The resulting hydrocarbons and nitriles are used for the production of the haze precursors, whose evolution is described by the microphysical part of the model. The calculated aerosol and gas opacities are iteratively included in the radiation transfer calculations in order to investigate their effect on the resulting temperature profile and geometric albedo. The main purpose of this model is to help in the understanding of the missing link between the gas production and particle transformation in Titan's atmosphere. In this part, the basic physical mechanisms included in the model are described. The final results regarding the eddy mixing profile, the chemical composition and the role of the different haze precursors suggested in the literature are presented in Part II along with the sensitivity of the results to the molecular nitrogen photoinization scheme and the impact of galactic cosmic rays in the atmospheric chemistry

Coupling photochemistry with haze formation in Titan's atmosphere, Part II: Results and validation with Cassini/Huygens data

International audienceThe new one-dimensional radiative-convective/photochemical/microphysical model described in Part I is applied to the study of Titan's atmospheric processes that lead to haze formation. Our model generates the haze structure from the gaseous species photochemistry. Model results are presented for the species vertical concentration profiles, haze formation and its radiative properties, vertical temperature/density profiles and geometric albedo. These are validated against Cassini/Huygens observations and other ground-based and space-borne measurements. The model reproduces well most of the latest measurements from the Cassini/Huygens instruments for the chemical composition of Titan's atmosphere and the vertical profiles of the observed species. For the haze production we have included pathways that are based on pure hydrocarbons, pure nitriles and hydrocarbon/nitrile copolymers. From these, the nitrile and copolymer pathways provide the stronger contribution, in agreement with the results from the ACP instrument, which support the incorporation of nitrogen in the pyrolized haze structures. Our haze model reveals a new second major peak in the vertical profile of haze production rate between 500 and 900 km. This peak is produced by the copolymer family used and has important ramifications for the vertical atmospheric temperature profile and geometric albedo. In particular, the existence of this second peak determines the vertical profile of haze extinction. Our model results have been compared with the DISR retrieved haze extinction profiles and are found to be in very good agreement. We have also incorporated in our model heterogeneous chemistry on the haze particles that converts atomic hydrogen to molecular hydrogen. The resultant H 2 profile is closer to the INMS measurements, while the vertical profile of the diacetylene formed is found to be closer to that of the CIRS profile when this heterogenous chemistry is included

Coupling photochemistry with haze formation in Titan's atmosphere. Part II: Results and Validation with Cassini/Huygens data.

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Coupling photochemistry with haze formation inTitan's atmosphere

International audienc

Coupling photochemistry with haze formation inTitan's atmosphere

International audienc

Coupling photochemistry with haze formation inTitan's atmosphere

International audienc

Coupling photochemistry with haze formation in Titan's atmosphere. Part II: Results and Validation with Cassini/Huygens data.

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Modelling the vertical distribution of temperature and chemical composition of Titan's atmosphere

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