Jingpo Lacus in a false-color synthetic aperture radar image of Titan's north polar region. An extension of Kraken Mare enters the view at upper left.
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| Feature type | Lacus |
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| Coordinates | 73°N 336°W / 73°N 336°W / 73; -336 |
| Diameter | 240 km[note 1] |
| Eponym | Jingpo Lake |
Jingpo Lacus is a lake in the north polar region of Titan,[1] the planet Saturn's largest moon. It and similarly sized Ontario Lacus[2] are the largest known bodies of liquid on Titan after the three maria (Kraken Mare, Ligeia Mare, and Punga Mare).[3] It is composed of liquid hydrocarbons (mainly methane and ethane). It is west of Kraken Mare at 73° N, 336° W, roughly 240 km (150 mi) long,[1][note 1] similar to the length of Lake OnegaonEarth. Its namesake is Jingpo Lake,[1] a lake in China.
On 8 July 2009, Cassini'sVisual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) observed a specular reflection in 5 μm infrared light off Jingpo Lacus at 71° N, 337° W. (This has sometimes been described less accurately as at the southern shoreline of Kraken Mare.[4]) Specular reflections indicate a smooth, mirror-like surface, so the observation corroborated the inference of the presence of a large liquid body drawn from radar imaging. The observation was made soon after the north polar region emerged from 15 years of winter darkness.[5]
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