Time/Location: 3:30-4:30 pm ET on Wednesday 24-September, in the Hussey Room, Michigan League, University of Michigan
Webinar: The seminar will also be available via webinar, by pre-registering at: http://mconnex.adobeconnect.com/titan-9-24-14/event/event_info.html
Map: http://campusinfo.umich.edu/campusmap/108
This event is free and open to the public
Abstract: Oceanography is no longer just an Earth Science. The ongoing NASA/ESA Cassini mission – still making exciting discoveries 10 years after its arrival in the rich Saturnian system – has found that three seas of liquid hydrocarbons adorn Saturn’s giant, frigid moon Titan. Titan was already exotic, having a thick, organic-rich atmosphere, and a diverse landscape with mountains, craters, river channels and vast fields of sand dunes, but these seas, and hundreds of lakes, present a new environment (low gravity, dense atmosphere, hydrocarbon liquid) in which to explore familiar and important physical processes such as air:sea heat and moisture exchange, wind-driven currents and waves, etc. Moreover, Titan’s seas (notably the two largest ones, Kraken Mare and Ligiea Mare, about 1000km and 400km across, respectively) offer an appealing and accessible target for future Titan exploration.