Terrestrial titanium: a double layer at the boundary

Despite numerous differences, the largest of Saturn's moons Titan in some ways strikingly similar to our planet. Another similarity between the structure of its atmosphere showed.

Titan - not only the largest moon of Saturn, but the only known satellite with its own dense atmosphere, which makes the lion's share, as on Earth, nitrogen. We can say that the atmosphere of Titan - a big mystery, starting from the question of its origin and composition, structure and finishing.

The bottom layer of the atmosphere adjacent to the surface of a planet (or satellite), is called the boundary layer. The boundary layer is experiencing the greatest influence on the part of the planet (or satellite) - but he himself, with its precipitation, cloudiness and winds affect the planet ( or satellite ) is stronger than the other layers of the atmosphere. In many respects, it is their interaction are determined by weather and climate on the boundary of the solid and gaseous media, where you and I inhabit.

The boundary layer of Earth's atmosphere has a thickness of 0.5 to 3 km. As a result, even the few available data on the local boundary layer is often contradict each other.

For example, according to information received by the probe Voyager 1, the thickness of the boundary layer of the atmosphere of Titan is 3.5 km, and the probe Huygens, who managed to land on Titan and briefly worked on the surface, gave a figure of only 300 m. To sort out this confusion, scientists from the Laboratory of meteodinamiki (Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique) French National Research Center have created a detailed three-dimensional model of Titan's climate. The main conclusion to which they came, is that Titan is even more like Earth than might be expected so far.
The calculations showed that the lower atmosphere of the satellite consists of two separate layers, temperature regimes which differ markedly from the upper layers. The bottom layer, according to modeling, has a thickness of 800 m and, as on earth, very dynamic - changes are occurring, literally, by leaps and bounds. The next layer up is at 2 km, and its dynamics is associated with seasonal changes in the satellite. Similarly, organized by the nether regions of our atmosphere, and.

Perhaps it is the presence of two layers, with their different dynamics explain previous conflicting results - and sustained winds encountered, going down to the surface, the probe Huygens; and giant sand dunes, found in equatorial regions, and the boundary layer of methane clouds.

Now, the authors intend to develop and build on the success: in the next model they would consider cycling of methane on Titan, which is largely similar to our water cycle - evaporation from the surface of lakes of liquid through the formation of clouds - to precipitation.