Titan Has 'Sea Level' Like Earth

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Cassini Finds Saturn Moon Has 'Sea Level' Like Earth

Quote

Saturn’s moon Titan may be nearly a billion miles away from Earth, but a recently published paper based on data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft reveals a new way this distant world and our own are eerily similar. Just as the surface of oceans on Earth lies at an average elevation that we call “sea level,” Titan’s seas also lie at an average elevation.

This is the latest finding that shows remarkable similarities between Earth and Titan, the only other world we know of in our solar system that has stable liquid on its surface. The twist at Titan is that its lakes and seas are filled with hydrocarbons rather than liquid water, and water ice overlain by a layer of solid organic material serves as the bedrock surrounding these lakes and seas.

  Read More: NASA

 

[pallidin]

Wonder if there might be some microbial life in those waters... perhaps exercising for the Titan swim Olympics..

[_KB_]

It's just logic though, stating what we all already new if you would, anything that has gravity as well as anything akin to a hydrosphere is bound to have an average sea level, even a child could figure this out based on the principle of induction

[Waspie_Dwarf]

3 minutes ago, _KB_ said:

It's just logic though, stating what we all already new if you would, anything that has gravity as well as anything akin to a hydrosphere is bound to have an average sea level, even a child could figure this out based on the principle of induction

Your argument is not logical at all.

If the seas are not interconnected (basically well-connected lakes and inland seas) then each will fill to it's own level. Only if there is, like on Earth, a global ocean will there be a global sea level. Since, before Cassini arrived at Saturn, it wasn't even certain there were liquid oceans on Titan. Only with the radar mapping carried out by Cassini could it be determined that there was a global sea level and that these seas are connected.

[_KB_]

Just now, Waspie_Dwarf said:

Your argument is not logical at all.

If the seas are not interconnected (basically well-connected lakes and inland seas) then each will fill to it's own level. Only if there is, like on Earth, a global ocean will there be a global sea level. Since, before Cassini arrived at Saturn, it wasn't even certain there were liquid oceans on Titan. Only with the radar mapping carried out by Cassini could it be determined that there was a global sea level and that these seas are connected.

I said anything akin to a hydrosphere, so it's plenty logical, I didn't say any liquid did I? The research itself wasn't bad, the conclusion was bad, the conclusion should have been "Titan has an interconnected water system", sometimes it's not about what you're selling but what you decide to call your product 

[Peter B]

11 hours ago, pallidin said:

Wonder if there might be some microbial life in those waters... perhaps exercising for the Titan swim Olympics..

The possibility is tantalising...

I understand that the main problem is that the temperature on Titan is so low that it's likely life would progress at a much slower pace than it does here on Earth.