{"id":468,"date":"2026-04-17T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/?p=468"},"modified":"2026-04-17T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T18:00:00","slug":"tall-waves-moving-in-slow-motion-shows-how-the-oily-oceans-of-saturns-giant-moon-titan-behave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/?p=468","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Tall waves moving in slow motion&#8217;: shows how the oily oceans of Saturn&#8217;s giant moon Titan behave"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p id=\"elk-931b501f-0e30-4414-8a18-0996ebd44960\">If you&#8217;re looking for the best waves in the solar system, Saturn&#8217;s moon Titan may be your ideal extraterrestrial surfing spot. There, a breeze that would cause ripples on Earth can cause waves 10 feet (3 meters) high across the frigid world.<\/p>\n<p>A new model called &#8216;PlanetWaves&#8217; has been developed by researchers to accurately describe what liquid waves look like on other worlds. Previous attempts have been <u>gravity<\/u> But PlanetWaves also applies atmospheric pressure and the properties of the liquid being blown away (density, viscosity, surface tension) to quantify the liquid&#8217;s resistance to ripples.<\/p>\n<aside data-block-type=\"embed\" data-render-type=\"fte\" data-skip=\"dealsy\" data-widget-type=\"seasonal\" class=\"hawk-root\"\/>\n<p id=\"elk-931b501f-0e30-4414-8a18-0996ebd44960-2\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;That was a big leap forward for this project,&#8221; said lead author Una Schneck, a Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) student <u>statement<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-continues-below block py-2 text-sm\">Article continues below <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"inline-block w-2.5 h-2.5 ml-2\" fill=\"currentColor\" preserveaspectratio=\"xMidYMid meet\" viewbox=\"0 0 1000 1000\"><path d=\"M1000 100L500 900 0 100h1000z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/p>\n<aside data-component-name=\"Recirculation:ArticleRiver\" data-recirculation-type=\"inline\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"Trending Bar\" data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"clear-both pb-0 pt-2 mb-4\">\n        <span class=\"&#10;            flex&#10;            after:content-[''] after:flex-1 after:ml-4 after:my-[0.7rem] after:border-t after:border-solid after:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            before:content-[''] before:flex-1 before:mr-4 before:my-[0.7rem] before:border-t before:border-solid before:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            font-article-heading pb-0 !text-base uppercase sm:text-sm font-bold&#10;        \"><\/p>\n<p>            you may like<br \/>\n        <\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p id=\"elk-77e9a7b0-34d6-4cca-8777-b88b43adc3ed\">Schneck&#8217;s team calibrated the PlanetWaves model based on 20 years of data collected by buoys in Lake Superior, Earth&#8217;s largest freshwater lake, located on the Canada-U.S. border. The model was able to accurately reproduce the measurements, giving the researchers confidence in applying it to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n<p>above <u>earth<\/u>&#8220;We&#8217;re used to certain wave dynamics, but with this model we can see how waves behave on planets with different liquids, atmospheres, and gravity, which can challenge our intuitions,&#8221; Andrew Ashton of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p><u>Saturn<\/u>biggest month of <u>titan<\/u> That was their main focus. Because it&#8217;s the only otherworld we know for sure that has liquid on its surface, and whose rivers, lakes, and oceans have been mapped. <u>Cassini \u2013 Huygens<\/u> mission.<\/p>\n<p>However, Titan&#8217;s liquids are not water, but oily hydrocarbons such as methane and ethane, which become liquid only at extremely low temperatures of -179 degrees Celsius (-290 degrees Fahrenheit).<\/p>\n<div id=\"slice-container-newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-vvhHBzG7db9r7cthKjEhmU\" class=\"slice-container newsletter-inbodyContent-slice newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-vvhHBzG7db9r7cthKjEhmU slice-container-newsletterForm\">\n<div data-hydrate=\"true\" class=\"newsletter-form__wrapper newsletter-form__wrapper--inbodyContent\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-form__container\">\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__top-bar\"\/>\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__main-section\">\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Breaking the latest in space news, rocket launches, skywatching events, and more.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s interesting about Titan is that we haven&#8217;t directly observed what these lakes look like,&#8221; Taylor Perron of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in a statement. &#8220;So we don&#8217;t know exactly what kind of waves are out there. This model gives us an idea.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The researchers found that even light winds could cause waves to rise as high as 10 feet in Titan&#8217;s lakes because Titan&#8217;s gravity is 14 percent of Earth&#8217;s and the liquid is relatively light and easy to move.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It looks like a tall wave moving in slow motion,&#8221; Schneck said. &#8220;If you were standing on the shore of this lake, you might only feel a breeze, but you&#8217;d see huge waves rolling towards you, something you wouldn&#8217;t expect anywhere else on Earth.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside data-component-name=\"Recirculation:ArticleRiver\" data-recirculation-type=\"inline\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"Trending Bar\" data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"clear-both pb-0 pt-2 mb-4\">\n        <span class=\"&#10;            flex&#10;            after:content-[''] after:flex-1 after:ml-4 after:my-[0.7rem] after:border-t after:border-solid after:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            before:content-[''] before:flex-1 before:mr-4 before:my-[0.7rem] before:border-t before:border-solid before:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            font-article-heading pb-0 !text-base uppercase sm:text-sm font-bold&#10;        \"><\/p>\n<p>            What to read next<br \/>\n        <\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<figure class=\"van-image-figure inline-layout\" data-bordeaux-image-check=\"\" id=\"elk-8c0cfbb3-6b32-4d84-bf65-f41a84d5f626\">\n<div class=\"image-full-width-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"image-widthsetter\" style=\"max-width:900px;\">\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:66.67%;\"> <picture data-new-v2-image=\"true\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/CcVxePa4zPMfeDgmGE5JtQ-900-80.jpg.webp 1200w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/CcVxePa4zPMfeDgmGE5JtQ-900-80.jpg.webp 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/CcVxePa4zPMfeDgmGE5JtQ-900-80.jpg.webp 970w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/CcVxePa4zPMfeDgmGE5JtQ-650-80.jpg.webp 650w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/CcVxePa4zPMfeDgmGE5JtQ-480-80.jpg.webp 480w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/CcVxePa4zPMfeDgmGE5JtQ-320-80.jpg.webp 320w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1000px) 970px, calc(100vw - 40px)\"><br \/>\n<\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\" inline-layout\"><span class=\"caption-text\">Mild winds may cause storms in Titan&#8217;s oceans, but on Earth there are hardly any ripples. <\/span><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: Schneck\/Ashton et al.)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"elk-91031e5a-e2d5-453f-98fd-4c9d456bb915\">When waves hit the shore, they cause significant erosion. Could Titan&#8217;s giant waves provide answers to persistent mysteries about the nature of Titan&#8217;s lakes and coastline?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unlike Earth, where deltas where rivers and coasts meet are common, on Titan there are very few that look like deltas, even though there are many rivers and coasts,&#8221; said Taylor Perron, also at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). \u201cIs it because of the waves?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Understanding the size of Titan&#8217;s waves will also be important if any of our space agencies decide to send a probe to float on Titan&#8217;s lakes or oceans.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You want to build something that can withstand wave energy, so it&#8217;s important to know what kind of waves these devices can withstand,&#8221; Schneck says.<\/p>\n<p>The team also applied the PlanetWaves model to various other worlds. <u>Mars<\/u> It seems like there is no liquid water now, but billions of years ago there was liquid water. Over time, Mars has lost much of its <u>atmosphere<\/u>the atmospheric pressure and temperature dropped. If this had happened, stronger winds would have been needed to raise the waves, whereas previously a weaker wind would have been sufficient.<\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-2bb8986c-9605-48da-adf2-894dccc8d8f8\">beyond <u>solar system<\/u>there are various worlds that could support some kind of liquid, but so far no liquid has actually been confirmed to exist. Nevertheless, <u>habitable zone<\/u> planet <u>LHS 1140b<\/u> The density suggests that up to 19% of its mass is water in some form. Being a super-Earth with stronger gravity than our planet, the waves in the hypothetical ocean would be much smaller than on Earth for the same wind speed.<\/p>\n<p>Even more exotic is the exoplanet Kepler-1649b. <u>Venus<\/u>A world with gravity similar to Earth. Venus&#8217; atmosphere contains large amounts of sulfuric acid, and Kepler-1649b may also contain sulfuric acid. If sulfuric acid could exist on Earth&#8217;s surface, it would require strong winds just to cause ripples in an acidic lake, since sulfuric acid is twice as dense as liquid water.<\/p>\n<p>The last exoplanet they used PlanetWaves on was 55 Cancri, a hot world likely covered in lava lakes. Lava is typically very thick and viscous, and 55 Cancri&#8217;s gravity is stronger than Earth&#8217;s, so it would take hurricane-force winds of around 130 miles per hour just to cause ripples in the lava ocean.<\/p>\n<p>The results of this study were published in the journal April 3. <u>Geophysical Research Journal: Planets<\/u>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>#Tall #waves #moving #slow #motion #shows #oily #oceans #Saturns #giant #moon #Titan #behave<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;re looking for the best waves in the solar system, Saturn&#8217;s moon Titan may be your ideal extraterrestrial surfing spot. There, a breeze that would cause ripples on Earth can cause waves 10 feet (3 meters) high across the frigid world. A new model called &#8216;PlanetWaves&#8217; has been developed by researchers to accurately describe &#8230; <a title=\"&#8216;Tall waves moving in slow motion&#8217;: shows how the oily oceans of Saturn&#8217;s giant moon Titan behave\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/?p=468\" aria-label=\"Read more about &#8216;Tall waves moving in slow motion&#8217;: shows how the oily oceans of Saturn&#8217;s giant moon Titan behave\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[560,557,558,552,550,555,554,556,553,551,548,559,549],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-behave","tag-giant","tag-moon","tag-motion","tag-moving","tag-oceans","tag-oily","tag-saturns","tag-shows","tag-slow","tag-tall","tag-titan","tag-waves"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}