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Wave constraints for Titan's Jingpo Lacus and Kraken Mare from VIMS specular reflection lightcurves

January 1, 2011

Stephan et al. (Stephan, K. et al. [2010]. Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, 7104-+.) first saw the glint of sunlight specularly reflected off of Titan's lakes. We develop a quantitative model for analyzing the photometric lightcurve generated during a flyby in which the specularly reflected light flux depends on the fraction of the solar specular footprint that is covered by liquid. We allow for surface waves that spread out the geographic specular intensity distribution. Applying the model to the VIMS T58 observations shows that the waves on Jingpo Lacus must have slopes of no greater than 0.15??, two orders of magnitude flatter than waves on Earth's oceans. Combining the model with theoretical estimates of the intensity of the specular reflection allows a tighter constraint on the waves:

Publication Year 2011
Title Wave constraints for Titan's Jingpo Lacus and Kraken Mare from VIMS specular reflection lightcurves
DOI 10.1016/j.icarus.2010.09.022
Authors J. Barnes, J.M. Soderblom, R. Brown, L.A. Soderblom, K. Stephan, R. Jaumann, Stéphane Le Mouélic, S. Rodriguez, Christophe Sotin, B. Buratti, K. Baines, R. Clark, P. Nicholson
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Icarus
Index ID 70034066
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
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