Titan's Topography and Shape at the End of the Cassini Mission. Issue 23 (2nd December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Corlies, P.; Hayes, A. G.; Birch, S. P. D.; Lorenz, R.; Stiles, B. W.; Kirk, R.; Poggiali, V.; Zebker, H.; Iess, L.
• Is Part Of: Geophysical research letters. Volume 44:Issue 23(2017)
• Page Start: 11, 754
• Page End: 11, 761
• Publication Date: 2017-12-02
• Subjects: Titan -- topography -- shape -- error -- minimization; Geophysics -- Periodicals; Planets -- Periodicals; Lunar geology -- Periodicals; 550
• DOI: 10.1002/2017GL075518
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0094-8276

Abstract

Abstract: With the conclusion of the Cassini mission, we present an updated topographic map of Titan, including all the available altimetry, SARtopo, and stereophotogrammetry topographic data sets available from the mission. We use radial basis functions to interpolate the sparse data set, which covers only ∼9% of Titan's global area. The most notable updates to the topography include higher coverage of the poles of Titan, improved fits to the global shape, and a finer resolution of the global interpolation. We also present a statistical analysis of the error in the derived products and perform a global minimization on a profile‐by‐profile basis to account for observed biases in the input data set. We find a greater flattening of Titan than measured, additional topographic rises in Titan's southern hemisphere and better constrain the possible locations of past and present liquids on Titan's surface. Key Points: We have updated topographic and spherical harmonic maps of Titan using 3 times more interpolation points All maps are electronically available for use by the community An additional mountain and topographic influences on liquid distributions are observed