Titan, the largest of Saturn's more than 60 moons, has surprisingly intense rainstorms, according to research by a team of UCLA planetary scientists and geologists. Although the storms are relatively rare—they occur less than once per Titan year, which is 29 and a half Earth years—they occur much more frequently than the scientists expected.
"I would have thought these would be once-a-millennium events, if even that," said Jonathan Mitchell, UCLA associate professor of planetary science and a senior author of the research, which was published Oct. 9 in the journal Nature Geoscience. "So this is quite a surprise."
The storms create massive floods in terrain that are otherwise deserts. Titan's surface is strikingly similar to Earth's, with flowing rivers that spill into great lakes and seas, and the moon has storm clouds that bring seasonal, monsoon-like downpours, Mitchell said. But Titan's precipitation is liquid methane, not water.
"The most intense methane storms in our climate model dump at least a foot of rain a day, which comes close to what we saw in Houston from Hurricane Harvey this summer," said Mitchell, the principal investigator of UCLA's Titan climate modeling research group.
[...] On Earth, intense storms can trigger large flows of sediment that spread into low lands and form cone-shaped features called alluvial fans. In the new study, the UCLA scientists found that regional patterns of extreme rainfall on Titan are correlated with recent detections of alluvial fans, suggesting that they were formed by intense rainstorms.
The finding demonstrates the role of extreme precipitation in shaping Titan's surface, said Seulgi Moon, UCLA assistant professor of geomorphology and a co-senior author of the paper. Moon said the principle likely applies to Mars, which has large alluvial fans of its own, and to other planetary bodies. Greater understanding of the relationship between precipitation and the planetary surfaces could lead to new insights about the impact of climate change on Earth and other planets.
Methane hurricanes. Smoking not advised.
S. P. Faulk et al. Regional patterns of extreme precipitation on Titan consistent with observed alluvial fan distribution, Nature Geoscience (2017). DOI: 10.1038/ngeo3043
(Score: 2) by deadstick on Monday October 16 2017, @12:20AM (5 children)
I wouldn't worry about that, in 98% nitrogen.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 16 2017, @12:22AM (4 children)
You need oxygen to burn methane! Phoenix666 how could you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/699/why-does-titans-atmosphere-not-start-to-burn [stackexchange.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday October 16 2017, @12:43AM (3 children)
Yeah you know a guy can't win with you nerds. On a planet full of methane a puerile joke can only go one of two ways, fire or fart. Had it gone fart someone else would have quipped, "but methane is odorless!"
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 16 2017, @12:59AM
...unless they were a fart cupper!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 16 2017, @01:21AM (1 child)
Add a little sulfur and there is hope for your fart jokes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetical_types_of_biochemistry [wikipedia.org]
Also consider underwater farts on Enceladus and Europa.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday October 16 2017, @12:41PM
Actually Io would be the best place for sulfur, plus there are geeky possibilities with I/O.
Washington DC delenda est.