Titan caught in the act? A surprising brief but intense period of atmospheric loss

The Cassini mission revealed cryogenic water plumes from the small moon Enceladus as the dominant source of material in Saturn’s magnetosphere. That a relatively small moon dominated the much larger, but more distant moon Titan, with its unprotected nitrogen atmosphere, in supplying neutrals and plasma to this giant magnetosphere was a surprise. However, it is shown here that recent, more detailed analysis of Cassini observations has revealed Titan experienced a previously unknown brief active period. More specifically, a significant global magnetospheric ion composition variation was observed which we interpret as an abrupt significant increase in Titan atmospheric loss involving one of the following: transient enhanced solar wind exposure, a methane cycle interruption, an impact event, and/or enhanced surface activity. Uncovering an unexpected atmospheric event by detailed plasma analysis opens up the possibility for detecting similar significant events at other solar system objects.