Abstract
An attempt to evaluate the preliminary values of the Titan's surface albedo at 2 μm from the first Cassini-VIMS observations of the moon is presented. The methodology is based on the application of radiative transfer calculations and a microphysical model of the Titan atmosphere based on fractal aerosol. As a first guess, the surface has been considered flat and lambertian. The results are presented as a function of the geographical coordinates associated to the image pixels. The libRadtran package, using the radiative transfer equation solver DISORT 2.0, has been applied for the calculations. A test run to evaluate the model performances, using ground based observations of Titan as reference in the range of wavelengths 0.3-1.0 μm, has been carried out.The retrieved values of the surface albedo range between 0.03 and 0.22.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Bernhard Mayer and Arve Kylling for the support given to us in adapting the code developed by them for the Earth to the extraterrestrial atmosphere of Titan. This work has been financially supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI).
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Adriani, A., Moriconi, M.L., Liberti, G.L. et al. TITAN’S GROUND REFLECTANCE RETRIEVAL FROM CASSINI-VIMS DATA TAKEN DURING THE JULY 2ND, 2004 FLY-BY AT 2 AM UT. Earth Moon Planet 96, 109–117 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11038-005-9057-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11038-005-9057-3