Assigned ID: 253 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Fri Feb 25 01:55:53 GMT 2011) ----- HST Phase I Proposal 253 (Griffith-AR-2011.apt) successfully submitted. ----- Attempting Submission 2 (Fri Feb 25 21:09:09 GMT 2011) ----- HST Phase I Proposal 253 (Griffith-AR-2011.apt) successfully submitted. ----- Attempting Submission 3 (Fri Feb 25 21:34:41 GMT 2011) ----- The Cassini Mission is limited by its finite (albeit long) duration (2004 to 2017), which covers half of Titan's 29.5 year orbit about the Sun. Here we propose to analyze STIS spectral images to enhance the return of the Cassini Mission, by extending measurements of the distribution of Titan's haze 7 years prior to the beginning of the Cassini Mission. Titan's haze drifts with the seasons from the summer to the winter hemisphere, tracing the moon's circulation, and also partly establishes the circulation, by absorbing 40% of the incident insolation. This work constrains the northern and southern circulation at the same season, which is not possible from the 1/2 Titan year sampling by Cassini. We will determine the effects of the differential warming of Titan's south and north polar regions that results from the eccentricity of Titan's orbit (e=0.054), which places Titan 11% closer to the Sun near South Summer Solstice (e.g. in 2003). We will release corrected STIS images and density maps of Titan's haze for the community. We will study the consequent difference in the circulation, seasons and weather in the north and south polar regions, and investigate whether the prevalence of Titan's lakes at high northern latitudes, results ultimately from this differential heating.

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