[LINK] "The Rains Of Titan Change When They Hit Underground Reservoirs: Study"

[rfmcdonald]

Universe Today's Elizabeth Howell describes a new study imagining how underground reservoirs of liquid methane could form on Titan.

Titan — that moon of Saturn that has what some scientists consider precursors to elements for life — is a neat place to study because it also has a liquid cycle. But how the hydrocarbons move from the moon’s hundreds of lakes and seas into the atmosphere and the crust is still being examined.

A new study suggests that rainfall on Titan changes when it interacts with underground icy clathrates, which are watery structures that can include methane or ethane. This can make it easier for reservoirs to be created.

“We knew that a significant fraction of the lakes on Titan’s surface might possibly be connected with hidden bodies of liquid beneath Titan’s crust, but we just didn’t know how they would interact,” stated lead author Olivier Mousis, a Cassini research associate at the University of Franche-Comté in France. “Now, we have a better idea of what these hidden lakes or oceans could be like.”