Description du projet
De nouveaux modèles climatiques pour explorer Titan
Il pleut du méthane sur Titan, la lune de Saturne. Bien que cela soit dû aux températures cryogéniques, les localisations des nuages et les événements de précipitation (découverts par les missions récentes) ne sont pas encore bien compris. Pour combler ce manque de connaissances, les scientifiques développent des modèles climatiques, mais il leur manque actuellement des descriptions physiques cruciales (notamment les interactions air-surface). Dans ce contexte, le projet TLALOC, financé par l’UE, rassemble des experts issus d’Europe et des États-Unis pour développer un modèle global de nouvelle génération pour Titan, afin d’explorer l’influence des lacs et des zones humides ainsi que les effets saisonniers et les impacts des tempêtes de méthane. Une fois achevé, le projet fournira le premier modèle avancé capable de reproduire le cycle hydrologique de Titan et d’interpréter les observations des nuages et des événements pluvieux.
Objectif
Saturn’s moon Titan is the only world in the Solar System besides Earth where rains reach the surface. Due to the cryogenic temperatures, these rains are not made of water but of methane. It accumulates in polar lakes and mud terrains, which seasonally evaporate, producing a methane hydrological cycle. Cloud localisations and precipitation events unveiled by recent missions are still not well understood. Climate models would help this endeavor, but they are currently missing crucial physical descriptions (especially air-surface interactions).
The T’LALOC project aims to solve Titan’s complex methane cycle by developing a model to address the currently open key questions: (Q1) the influence of lakes and wetlands; (Q2) seasonal effects; and, (Q3) methane storm impacts. We will obtain an unprecedented next-generation Titan global climate model by incorporating and improving building blocks from three existing regional models developed at SwRI, LMD and UPV/EHU. Each of these models individually specializes in one of the issues above (Q1-2-3). Upon completion we will obtain the first advanced model able to reproduce the hydrological cycle and interpret observations of clouds and rain events. The project will start at a strategic timing: close to the end of the Cassini-Huygens mission (2004-2017), at the first light of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST, 2022), during the preparation of the Dragonfly mission (launch in 2026) and at the definition of a future EU mission. The large set of data by Cassini and the new data by JWST have to be exploited in urgency to improve our current atmospheric models and to be able to simulate weather conditions at the surface, which impacts the Dragonfly rotorcraft operations and science return. This project brings together world leaders in Titan climate modelling from the US and EU, sows the seeds for collaboration on future missions to Titan, and positions the fellow and the host EU teams as references in Titan climate modelling.
Champ scientifique
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyplanetary sciencesnatural satellites
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringaircraftrotorcraft
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryaliphatic compounds
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyobservational astronomy
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinateur
48940 Leioa
Espagne