Air-sea interactions on Titan: effect of radiative transfer on the lake evaporation and atmospheric circulation
arxiv(2022)
摘要
Titan's northern high latitudes host many large hydrocarbon lakes. Like water
lakes on Earth, Titan's lakes are constantly subject to evaporation. This
process strongly affects the atmospheric methane abundance, the atmospheric
temperature, the lake mixed layer temperature, and the local wind circulation.
In this work we use a 2D atmospheric mesoscale model coupled to a slab lake
model to investigate the effect of solar and infrared radiation on the exchange
of energy and methane between Titan's lakes and atmosphere. The magnitude of
solar radiation reaching the surface of Titan through its thick atmosphere is
only a few Wm^-2. However, we find that this small energy input is
important and is comparable in absolute magnitude to the latent and sensible
heat fluxes, as suggested in the prior study by Rafkin and Soto (2020). The
implementation of a gray radiative scheme in the model confirms the importance
of radiation when studying lakes at the surface of Titan. Solar and infrared
radiation change the energy balance of the system leading to an enhancement of
the methane evaporation rate, an increase of the equilibrium lake temperature
almost completely determined by its environment (humidity, insolation, and
background wind), and a strengthening of the local sea breeze, which undergoes
diurnal variations. The sea breeze efficiently transports methane vapor
horizontally, from the lake to the land, and vertically due to rising motion
along the sea breeze front and due to radiation-induced turbulence over the
land.
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