Post-Voyager brightness variations on Io

Details Post-Voyager brightness variations on Io Post-Voyager brightness variations on Io

Apr 1995

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995jgr...100.7523s&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227), vol. 100, no. E4, p. 7523-7530

Physics

12

Brightness, Io, Reflectance, Satellite Surfaces, Hubble Space Telescope, Sulfur Dioxides, Volcanoes, Voyager 1 Spacecraft

Scientific paper

Imaging of Io with the faint object and planetary cameras of the Hubble space telescope (HST) in 1992 and 1993 at wavelengths of approximately 3450, 3700, and 4100 angstroms shows two surface areas that have undergone significant, large-scale change in reflectivity since the 1979 Voyager encounters. The first is located in Colchis Regio and covers approximately 106 sq km between longitudes 150 deg-180 deg and latitudes -25 deg to +30 deg; the second is centered at longitude approximately 130 deg, latitude approximately +30 deg, and extends for approximately 105 sq km. Both areas have darkened by greater than or equal to 45% since 1979. In light of the active volcanism discovered on Io by the Voyager 1 encounter, it seems reasonable to infer that these large-scale changes in surface morphology are due to some type of volcanic activity in the intervening 14 years. We hypothesize two possible causes for these darkenings: either large-scale eruptions of the Pele type have covered areas of existing SO2 surface frost with new, smaller-scale venting), which apparently produce SO2 gas that is bright in the visible when it condenses as surface frost, have become inactive.

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