Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Sep 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.1506c&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #15.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.509
Mathematics
Logic
2
Scientific paper
Enceladus notably belongs to the class of icy bodies in the solar system showing visible signs of internal activity through natural venting of subsurface material into plume ejecta. Comets also show transient venting activity on approach to the Sun, and there are large bright objects in the Kuiper Belt at large heliocentric distances 102 AU that may be actively resurfaced by non-solar chemical energy sources also including cosmic ray irradiation. Enceladus's position within the inner magnetosphere of Saturn exposes the surface to magnetospheric and cosmic ray particle irradiation. The highest energy electrons and protons in this region are likely the products of neutron decay from high-energy cosmic ray irradiation of Saturn's main rings. Saturn magnetospheric electron transport and acceleration is highly efficient, resulting in intense electron fluxes rising in intensity towards Saturn at the orbit of Enceladus. An initial evaluation (J. F. Cooper and P. D. Cooper, Spring AGU 2006) has shown that the total energy flux of magnetospheric electrons and cosmic ray protons greatly exceeds the 0.1 mW/m2 upper limit on power requirement for the observed water vapor plume emanating from vents in Enceladus's south polar region. Surface oxidants produced by irradiation could saturate the Enceladus ice crust and, via surface to subsurface transport by rheological processes, chemically interact exothermically with subsurface reductants, e.g. NH3. The resultant subsurface heat source could then drive ice sublimation from localized vents in the south polar region to form the plumes. Rate of plume production would vary with the external particle energy flux and with rheological activity of the polar ice crust. In this presentation we update the Enceladus surface irradiation model for application to the plume heat source with new inputs from the Cassini CAPS and MIMI instruments in comparison to radiation models derived from the earlier Pioneer and Voyager missions.
Burger Matthew Howard
Cooper John F.
Cooper Paul D.
Hill Matthew E.
Johnson Robert E.
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