Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p22b..08m&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P22B-08
Other
[6280] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Saturnian Satellites
Scientific paper
Cassini-Huygens discovered many eruptive plumes and a heat flow of about 15 GW [1] in the South Polar Region of Enceladus. The plume material is believed to come from an ocean [2]. We have modeled the heat and chemicals as coming to the surface via the circulation of relatively warm ocean water [3]. The major challenge for our work is to explain how circulation of water can be maintained in the very cold crust. The upper boundary condition is relatively simple. Where seawater contacts surface ice the temperature is ~-2 C. Also, under the right conditions, tidally induced fissures in the surface ice can fill with water that freezes, producing new ice. The lower boundary temperature is difficult to characterize precisely. The ocean is several degrees warmer than the ice. Consequently there will be some melting at the bottom of the crust. The melt water is less dense than seawater and floats on it. As a result, an ice-ocean interface layer is formed. This layer is stable against Rayleigh-Bénard convection. The layer regulates the rate at which heat is transferred and the temperature at which melt water is produced through temperature and salinity gradients. Currents in the ocean below and other variables influence the extent and shape of the interface layer. A somewhat similar interface layer (thermal gradient only) has been discussed and modeled for Europa [4] and many of those considerations apply to Enceladus. In the Europa case a layer thickness of ~200 m was suggested and that should be roughly what one might also expect for Enceladus. We demonstrate that it is feasible to keep this hydrothermal activity going over the long-term, as long as it is powered by a deep source of heat whose origin is still to be determined. This work was conducted at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with NASA. Copyright 2011 Caltech.
Castillo Julie C.
Davies Andrew G.
Johnson Torrence V.
Lunine Jonathan I.
Matson Dennis
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