Program: GN-2007B-Q-30

Previously in this program we discovered Titan's mid-latitude clouds (Roe et al.\ 2005a), observed a massive storm engulfing the south pole (Schaller et al.\ 2006a), and found a near-disappearance of south polar cloud activity as the season moved further into southern summer (Schaller et al.\ 2006B). More recently we found that the mid-latitude clouds are controlled by surface processes, possibly including cryovolcanoes, geysering, and/or the opening of surface cracks, near 40$^{\circ}$S, 350$^{\circ}$W (Roe et al.\ 2005b). Observing Titan's clouds requires only a small amount (20-25 min) of large (8-10 meter) adaptive optics telescope time and queued Gemini observations are uniquely suited to this observing program. This semester we propose to use the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrometer (NIFS) in a Target-of-Opportunity mode to maximize our observing efficiency. Continued observations are required to monitor the expected final seasonal gasps of the south polar clouds, search for the start of new seasonal clouds at central and northern latitudes, identify other regions of active surface geology, and better determine the behavior of the 40$^{\circ}$S, 350$^{\circ}$W region.