Titan’s atmospheric circulation and hydrologic cycle
We are working to better understand the climate and hydrologic cycle of Saturn’s moon Titan, a unique yet Earth-like world with an exotic but recognizable hydrologic cycle based on methane. Titan is the only body in the Solar System besides Earth with a massive nitrogen atmosphere and stable surface liquids, and its climate system plays an important role in many observable phenomena. In addition to having an atmosphere full of organic molecules, Titan likely hosts a sub-surface water ocean; it is therefore a key target for astrobiological exploration.
Our main tool to investigate Titan is our ever-evolving climate model, the Titan Atmospheric Model, a general circulation model that is now coupled to a self-consistent surface hydrology model. We supplement our simulations with theory and analysis of observations of Titan, a wealth of which is available from the Cassini mission.
Take a look also at the Dragonfly portion of our Collaborations page.
Some relevant papers:
- Lora (2024): A review paper about Titan’s methane cycle
- Lombardo & Lora (2023b): This paper investigates the heat and momentum budgets of Titan’s middle atmosphere
- Lora et al. (2022): This paper investigates the influences of topography and orbital forcing on the methane cycle
- Faulk et al. (2020): This paper describes the coupling between atmosphere and surface hydrology that enables a self-consistent simulation of Titan’s climate
- Mitchell & Lora (2016): A review paper about Titan’s climate
- Lora et al. (2015): This paper describes the original version of our Titan Atmospheric Model (TAM)
Earth’s evolving hydrologic cycle
Another area of interest in our group is Earth’s water cycle, and how it has changed in response to various drivers over the past several million years, with a particular focus on atmospheric rivers. Atmospheric rivers are synoptic features of the extratropical atmosphere that are responsible for a majority of poleward vapor transport, and they deliver water to all continents, sometimes in extreme precipitation events.
How do natural and anthropogenic climate drivers affect the mid-latitude water cycle? And how has it evolved in the past in response to changes in, for example, ice sheets? These are questions we address in our group, with a combination of global climate models, observations, and climate reconstructions.
Take a look also at the ARTMIP portion of our Collaborations page.
Some relevant papers:
- Lora et al. (2023): This paper investigates the global hydrologic cycle in recent simulations of the last ice age
- Baek & Lora (2021): This paper explores the influences of anthropogenic aerosols and greenhouse gases on atmospheric river intensity
- Lora & Ibarra (2019): This paper examines our understanding of the changing hydrologic cycle of North America since the last ice age
- Lora (2018): This paper investigates the hydrologic cycle of North America at the last ice age
- Lora et al. (2017): This paper explores the impact that glacial conditions had on North Pacific atmosheric river behavior
Other areas of interest
We also investigate various other topics, including the atmospheres and climates of other planets (and exoplanets), climate variability, and the connections between the atmosphere and surface (through the boundary layer). We are interested in a broad, mechanistic understanding of climate, and bridging terrestrial climate and planetary sciences.
Some relevant papers:
- Williams et al. (2024): This paper investigates the seasonal behavior of clouds in response to changes in planetary rotation rate
- Baek et al. (2023): This paper describes the dominant driver of natural global atmospheric river variability
- Battalio & Lora (2021): This paper documents the presence of annular modes of variability on Mars and Titan
Take a look at our Publications and Collaborations pages for more information.