This Cassini false-color mosaic shows synthetic-aperture radar imagery of Titan's north polar region. Approximately 60 percent of Titan's north polar region, above 60 degrees north latitude, is now mapped with radar. About 14 percent of the mapped region is covered by what is interpreted as liquid hydrocarbon lakes.
<p>Features thought to be liquid are shown in blue and black, and the areas likely to be solid surface are tinted brown. These seas are most likely filled with liquid ethane, methane and dissolved nitrogen.
</p><p>Many bays, islands and presumed tributary networks are associated with the seas. Of the 400 observed lakes and seas, 70 percent of their area is taken up by large "seas" greater than 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles).
</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries.
</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm</a>.
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The original NASA image has been modified by cropping, to show primarily Kraken Mare, and rotating 90 deg., to put north at upper right.
NASA / Jet Propulsion Lab-Caltech / USGS
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