The Titan Seasonally Varying Radiative Species (SVRS) Dataset

Update 17 June 2023: The 'latitude' array is erroneously reversed relative to the 'abundance' array in svrs_molecule.nc.  The user should reverse the order of 'latitude' upon reading it.  Example: netCDF4.Dataset('svrs_molecule.nc)['latitude'][::-1].  This did not affect Lombardo & Lora (2023).

Here is archived the Titan Seasonally Varying Radiative Species (SVRS) dataset, which consists of netCDF files containing trace gas abundances (svrs_molecule.nc) and the aerosol opacity (svrs_haze.nc).  SVRS was developed with the intent of providing a single source of seasonal scale climatological information on Titan's radiatively active species from the troposphere through the stratopause.  This was accomplished by interpolating between measurements from individual Cassini flybys of Titan where trace gas abundance and aerosol opacity were determined.  The trace gases included are C₂H₆, C₂H₄, C₂H₂, p-C₃H₄, C₄H₂, HCN, and HC₃N.  The trace gas abundances are on 2° latitude, 5° L_s grid, with 99 levels extending from just above the surface to 0.001 Pa.  Haze opacity is included for the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet spectral windows, spanning 1 cm^-1 -- 40000 cm^-1.  The haze opacity is on a 2° latitude, 5° L_s grid with 900 levels extending from 10⁶ Pa (extrapolated to pressures greater than Titan's surface pressure) to 10^-3 Pa.  The methods used to produce SVRS are detailed in Lombardo & Lora (2023), Icarus, doi: j.icarus.2022.115291.  

This archive also includes simulation data from the Titan Atmospheric Model (TAM), discussed in the above reference.  This simulation utilized molecular abundance and aerosol opacity profiles from SVRS to calculate seasonally accurate radiative heating rates.  This archive contains zonal means of the simulated zonal and meridional winds, temperature, and the calculated meridional mass stream function.  The data are averaged over 10° L_s windows, and sampled every 10° L_s (with 1° L_s corresponding to approximately 1 Earth month), and extends from the surface (1.465×10⁵ Pa) through the lower mesosphere (about 0.01 Pa).  An animation of the data included in this netCDF file is included as Lombardo_TAM_2023_data.mp4.

We ask that you cite us in your use of the data: Lombardo & Lora (2023), Icarus, doi: j.icarus.2022.115291