Temperate Lakes on Titan

For my Ph.D. dissertation, I investigate the relationship between lakes and climate on Titan. I first view Titan's surface at the visible wavelengths of the VIMS-VIS instrument and find two new atmospheric windows at 653 and 681 nm. Following up on observations of clouds around the 40S latitude band, I surveyed the southern temperate latitudes finding two lake features. The total estimated volume of the larger of these lakes, Sionascaig Lacus, falls within the estimates of methane inventory in the clouds observed over this region. A survey of the northern mid-latitudes reveals three candidate features I reason to be lakes and would serve as interesting targets for future Cassini flybys. The existence of temperate lakes and lake candidates adds further constraints to Titan GCMs and adds to the complexity of Titan's polar lake asymmetry.Thesis (Ph.D., Physics) -- University of Idaho, 201