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ABSTRACT

Allison 1992

Allison, M., 1992: A preliminary assessment of the Titan planetary boundary layer. In Proceedings Symposium on Titan, Toulouse, France, 9-12 September 1991, ESA SP-338. ESA Publications Division, ESTEC, pp. 113-118.

Prelimary estimates of the characteristic features of the Titan planetary boundary layer (PBL) are derived from the combined application of a patched Ekman-surface layer model and Rossby number similarity theory. A characteristic Ekman depth of 0.7 km is anticipated with an eddy viscosity K ~ 103 cm2/s, an associated friction velocity u* ~ 10-2 m/s, and a surface wind typically smaller than 0.6 m/s. Actual values of these parameters probably vary by as much as a factor of two or three, however, in response to local-temporal variations in surface roughness and stability. The saltation threshold for the wind-blown injection of ~50 µm particulates into the atmosphere is less than twice the nominal friction velocity, suggesting that dusty breezes might be an occasional feature of the Titan meteorology. The direct measurement of Titan's PBL may be realized during the last two minutes of the Huygens Probe descent to its surface.

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