Titan caught in the act? A surprising brief but intense period of atmospheric loss

Titan caught in the act? A surprising brief but intense period of atmospheric loss | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Titan caught in the act? A surprising brief but intense period of atmospheric loss Howard Smith, Robert Johnson This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9095899/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The Cassini mission revealed cryogenic water plumes from the small moon Enceladus as the dominant source of material in Saturn’s magnetosphere. That a relatively small moon dominated the much larger, but more distant moon Titan, with its unprotected nitrogen atmosphere, in supplying neutrals and plasma to this giant magnetosphere was a surprise. However, it is shown here that recent, more detailed analysis of Cassini observations has revealed Titan experienced a previously unknown brief active period. More specifically, a significant global magnetospheric ion composition variation was observed which we interpret as an abrupt significant increase in Titan atmospheric loss involving one of the following: transient enhanced solar wind exposure, a methane cycle interruption, an impact event, and/or enhanced surface activity. Uncovering an unexpected atmospheric event by detailed plasma analysis opens up the possibility for detecting similar significant events at other solar system objects. Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Planetary science/Rings and moons Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Planetary science/Giant planets Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Space physics/Magnetospheric physics Physical sciences/Physics/Space physics/Magnetospheric physics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9095899","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":612742018,"identity":"1d00ad8e-3358-41b9-b185-ee5a1ffb8266","order_by":0,"name":"Howard Smith","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA9klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACgwP8Hxh42BjsGZgZ2Bg+8BwAijE3MADZeLQwNoC0JDYwM7MxzgBrYSROSwLQcDZmHgbitDQ+eFPGkKDbzn/ssY3MncT+2Y0NDB/KDuPUYn+AsdlwzjkGe7PDzOzGOTzPEmfcOdjAOOMcbi1AW9qkedsYGLcdZmaTzuE5nNhwA+gv3jZitVgAtcwHaflLtBYGoJYNIC2M+LQcBvtFIhGoxUyyh+ew8UagXw72nEvHreV4IyjEbOzNzh98JvGz57DsvNvNBx/8KLPGqQUY6SAgAeEw9kDYB3CrxwA/ENpHwSgYBaNgFMAAAKCwXRamiPNoAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3537-3360","institution":"JHUAPL","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Howard","middleName":"","lastName":"Smith","suffix":""},{"id":612742019,"identity":"b61c4617-43a1-4685-9ff9-04c597c7ef32","order_by":1,"name":"Robert Johnson","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Robert","middleName":"","lastName":"Johnson","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-11 14:56:48","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9095899/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9095899/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106095124,"identity":"a52345e2-a966-44d6-a8a7-148ee351517b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-03 11:44:41","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1155169,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Carticle1stsubmissionA.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9095899/v1_covered_8e60c8ee-8af0-4c9c-82cf-a0d3ea042a64.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Titan caught in the act? 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