Summary: Atmospheric Structure and Composition,
D. F. Strobel, S. K. Atreya, B. Bézard, F. Ferri, F. M. Flasar, M. Fulchignoni, E. Lellouch , and I.
Muller-Wodarg, in Titan from Cassini-Huygens (R.H. Brown et al., eds.), Chapter 10, pp 235-257,
2009, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9215-2_10, Springer Dordrecht, Heidelberg-London-New York.
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Abstract Titan's atmosphere is predominantly N2
with CH4
the next most abundant molecule. It has a mole fraction of
0.05 just above the surface decreasing to 0.014 in the strato-
sphere. Above the homopause (~800­850 km), it increases
to 0.12 at the exobase. The third abundant molecule is
H2
with a tropospheric mole fraction of 0.001 increasing
to 0.004 at ~1000 km and ~0.02 at the exobase (~1500­
1600 km). This chapter reviews the various measurements
acquired by the Voyager flybys, Huygens Probe, orbiting
Cassini spacecraft, ground-based and orbiting telescopes of
the large suite of hydrocarbons, nitriles, other nitrogen and
also oxygen bearing compounds. Titan possesses a mostly
stable troposphere with a well defined tropopause (T ~ 70

Source: Atreya, Sushil - Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Science, University of Michigan

Collections: Physics