Saturn's Titan May Have Violent Methane Storms that Shape Massive Dunes

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, may have extremely violent methane storms, which may solve the mystery about the direction of the moon's dunes. Scientists have found that storms might explain the seemingly wind-created sand dunes near the moon's equator point.

Climate simulations indicate that Titan's near-surface winds, like Earth's trade winds, blow toward the west. However, the massive surface dunes on the moon actually point to the east. This misdirection was once attributed to the effects of Saturn's gravitational tides or various land features or wind dynamics. Now, though, researchers have found a better explanation.

The researchers attempted to solve the problem with a global climate model that didn't factor in methane clouds. After failing, the scientists realized that methane may be part of the solution.

The then used computer models to hypothesize that the direction of Titan's sand dunes may result from rare methane storms that produce eastward gusts that are much stronger than the usual westward surface winds.

The storm winds reach up to 22 mph and are about 10 times faster than Titan's gentler near-surface winds. Although the storms only occur when Titan is in equinox and its days and nights are of equal length, which is about every 14.75 years, they're still sufficiently powerful to realign Titan's dunes.

"It was a kind of detective game, as often is the case in planetary sciences, where we have many mysteries and a few clues to solve them," said Benjamin Charnay, one of the researchers, in a news release.

The dunes themselves are probably not composed of silicates, like Earth's sand. More likely, they're made up of hydrocarbon polymers, which is a type of soot resulting from the decomposition of methane in the atmosphere.

The findings reveal a bit more about this large moon and tell scientists a bit more about its atmosphere.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

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