Clathrates Clouds

Studies carried out on Earth, for example, by the NASA infrared telescope on Mauna Kea (Hawaii), showed albedo variations which indicated the presence of holes in the Titanian cloud formations (Griffith, 1993). It is, however, still unclear as to whether these inhomogeneities result from differences in the surface composition. Lorenz et al. (1997) reported large variations in Titan s atmosphere due to photochemical processes. The methane contained in the dense nitrogen atmosphere is decomposed by solar and thermal radiation, and its content may be replenished from methane lakes or from clathrates. 

The model is formulated on the premise that the decomposing hydrate particle is surrounded by a cloud of the product gas hence the driving force for the decomposition process is expressed in terms of the fugacity difference given in Eq. (1). The process of decomposition possibly involves (1) destruction of the clathrate host (water) lattice at the surface of the particle, and (2) and desorption of the guest (hydrate former) molecules from the surface. The particle size distribution was incorporated in the calculations for the determination of the intrinsic rate constants.The following Arrhenius type equation is used to represent the effect of temperature on the intrinsic rate constant ... 

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