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THE lakes of Titan, Saturn鈥檚 largest moon, may fill up from below.

Titan鈥檚 lakes contain a mixture of liquid ethane and methane. But remote readings can鈥檛 distinguish between the atmosphere and surface liquids, so no one knows how much of each is present, which could affect how long it takes for the lakes to evaporate.

Adrienn Luspay-Kuti of the Southwest Research Institute in Texas and her colleagues simulated Titan鈥檚 frigid surface conditions in the lab, and found evaporation rates for methane and ethane that were so high they should have emptied the lakes. That could mean they are being replenished from a subsurface liquid reservoir (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, ).

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淭itan lakes could be fed from below鈥�