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Global circulation as the main source of cloud activity on Titan

Overview of attention for article published in Nature, June 2009
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  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (72nd percentile)

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1 blog

Citations

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58 Mendeley
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Title
Global circulation as the main source of cloud activity on Titan
Published in
Nature, June 2009
DOI 10.1038/nature08014
Pubmed ID
Authors

Sébastien Rodriguez, Stéphane Le Mouélic, Pascal Rannou, Gabriel Tobie, Kevin H. Baines, Jason W. Barnes, Caitlin A. Griffith, Mathieu Hirtzig, Karly M. Pitman, Christophe Sotin, Robert H. Brown, Bonnie J. Buratti, Roger N. Clark, Phil D. Nicholson

Abstract

Clouds on Titan result from the condensation of methane and ethane and, as on other planets, are primarily structured by circulation of the atmosphere. At present, cloud activity mainly occurs in the southern (summer) hemisphere, arising near the pole and at mid-latitudes from cumulus updrafts triggered by surface heating and/or local methane sources, and at the north (winter) pole, resulting from the subsidence and condensation of ethane-rich air into the colder troposphere. General circulation models predict that this distribution should change with the seasons on a 15-year timescale, and that clouds should develop under certain circumstances at temperate latitudes ( approximately 40 degrees ) in the winter hemisphere. The models, however, have hitherto been poorly constrained and their long-term predictions have not yet been observationally verified. Here we report that the global spatial cloud coverage on Titan is in general agreement with the models, confirming that cloud activity is mainly controlled by the global circulation. The non-detection of clouds at latitude approximately 40 degrees N and the persistence of the southern clouds while the southern summer is ending are, however, both contrary to predictions. This suggests that Titan's equator-to-pole thermal contrast is overestimated in the models and that its atmosphere responds to the seasonal forcing with a greater inertia than expected.

Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 58 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 1 2%
Italy 1 2%
France 1 2%
Unknown 55 95%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 13 22%
Researcher 13 22%
Student > Master 7 12%
Other 5 9%
Student > Bachelor 4 7%
Other 7 12%
Unknown 9 16%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Physics and Astronomy 17 29%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 15 26%
Environmental Science 4 7%
Chemistry 3 5%
Engineering 2 3%
Other 5 9%
Unknown 12 21%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 September 2009.
All research outputs
#5,717,697
of 22,710,079 outputs
Outputs from Nature
#60,434
of 90,724 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#31,421
of 113,727 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature
#386
of 534 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,710,079 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 74th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 90,724 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 99.2. This one is in the 33rd percentile – i.e., 33% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 113,727 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 72% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 534 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 27th percentile – i.e., 27% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.