Convective plumes and the scarcity of Titan's clouds

Ralph D. Lorenz; Caitlin A. Griffith; Jonathan I. Lunine; Christopher P. McKay; Nilton O. Rennò

doi:10.1029/2004GL021415

Convective plumes and the scarcity of Titan's clouds

Ralph D. Lorenz
, Caitlin A. Griffith
, Jonathan I. Lunine
, Christopher P. McKay
, Nilton O. Rennò

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

We show that simple thermodynamic models of convective plumes predict the area fraction of convective plumes (i.e., updrafts) in Titan's atmosphere to be ∼12 smaller than on Earth. This result is in agreement with predictions by sophisticated dynamical models and with the relative tropospheric cloud cover, which is only ∼1% on Titan. Rainstorms on Titan, being so rare, may be violent.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1-4
Number of pages	4
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	32
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL021415
State	Published - Jan 16 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geophysics
General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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10.1029/2004GL021415

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abstract = "We show that simple thermodynamic models of convective plumes predict the area fraction of convective plumes (i.e., updrafts) in Titan's atmosphere to be ∼12 smaller than on Earth. This result is in agreement with predictions by sophisticated dynamical models and with the relative tropospheric cloud cover, which is only ∼1\% on Titan. Rainstorms on Titan, being so rare, may be violent.",

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AU - Lunine, Jonathan I.

AU - McKay, Christopher P.

AU - Rennò, Nilton O.

PY - 2005/1/16

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AB - We show that simple thermodynamic models of convective plumes predict the area fraction of convective plumes (i.e., updrafts) in Titan's atmosphere to be ∼12 smaller than on Earth. This result is in agreement with predictions by sophisticated dynamical models and with the relative tropospheric cloud cover, which is only ∼1% on Titan. Rainstorms on Titan, being so rare, may be violent.

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Convective plumes and the scarcity of Titan's clouds

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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