Using a new climate predicting model, scientists can predict cloud formation on Titan 30 years into the future.
That may sound like a long range forecast, but 30 Earth years correspond to just one year on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.
The new computer model, however, will help scientists predict where and when large seasonal clouds will appear and disappear across the moon, enabling them to plan productive future observations of the hazy moon.
While the Cassini spacecraft has provided stunning images and near-infrared scans of Titan’s clouds, until now scientists couldn’t say for sure how the ethane/methane clouds form. The new general circulation model, however, combines haze circulation and cloud physics to help solve the riddle.
The model matches past and present observations, and researchers expect it to accurately forecast where clouds will pop up in the future.
Unlike previously proposed models, the new model has the advantage of being teamed up with Cassini images to confirm its accuracy. Taken together, scientists have determined that Titan’s clouds form and move much like those on Earth and Mars.
"Consistently, our model produces clouds at places where clouds are actually observed," said study leader Pascal Rannou of the Service d’Aeronomie, IPSL Universite de Versailles-St-Quentin, France. "But it also predicts clouds that have not, or not yet, been observed."
The research is detailed in the Jan. 13 issue of the journal Science.
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