Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p21a1201r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P21A-1201
Other
[5430] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Interiors, [5440] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Magnetic Fields And Magnetism, [5460] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Physical Properties Of Materials, [6235] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mercury
Scientific paper
Recent MESSENGER and past Mariner 10 flybys have provided evidence that the internal magnetic field of Mercury is likely of core origin. If the magnetic field is produced by a core dynamo, at least part of the planet's core is liquid. Additional evidence for a, at least, partially liquid outer core is provided by recent radar measurements by Margot et al. (2007), which show that the surface librations are larger than would be for an entirely solid planet. The existence of a fluid part in the core implies the presence of light elements in the core, which reduce the core melting temperature, since otherwise the cooling of the planet would have resulted in a fully solid core. If the temperature inside the liquid core drops below the core liquidus temperature, solid core material is expelled from the liquid and the inner core grows. Depending on the nature and the concentration of light elements the local temperature first drops below the liquidus temperature at the center of the planet or the core mantle boundary. Detecting the inner core and estimating its size does not only provide strong constraints on the temperature and the concentration of the light elements inside the core but will also provide constraints on the nature of the core dynamo process generating the magnetic field. Here we propose a strategy for estimating the size of the inner core from a joint use of the libration amplitude, the obliquity, the tidal surface deformation, and the tidal changes in the external potential, quantities that will be accurately measured by the MESSENGER and BepiColombo missions to Mercury.
Hoolst Tim Van
Rivoldini Attilio
Verhoeven Olivier
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