Ice Grain Size Distribution: Differences Between Jovian and Saturnian Icy Satellites from Galileo and Cassini Measurements

Details Ice Grain Size Distribution: Differences Between Jovian and Saturnian Icy Satellites from Galileo and Cassini Measurements Ice Grain Size Distribution: Differences Between Jovian and Saturnian Icy Satellites from Galileo and Cassini Measurements

Aug 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005dps....37.4710h&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #37, #47.10; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 37, p.729

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Most of the satellites of the outer solar system have surfaces covered by water ice. The near-infrared (1-5 μ m) spectrum of snow has several absorption bands below 2.7 μ m, and stronger absorption beyond 3 μ m (for fine-grained ice, a reflection peak near 3.6 μ m occurs). For grain sizes larger than a micrometer, a Fresnel reflection peak is found near 3.1 μ m. The reflection spectrum of the icy Galilean satellites of Jupiter (Callisto, Ganymede and Europa), as returned by the Galileo Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, are well fitted by ice models using a single, or at most a closely-spaced bimodal, grain size in the range from 20 to several 100 μ m. These spectra all have a strong 3.1-μ m peak. The reflection spectrum of the Saturnian icy satellites Mimas, Tethys, Rhea, and Enceladus, as returned by the Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer instrument are very different, as there seems to be a large sub-micron component of the ice that creates a broad, low region from 2.8 to 3.2 μ m and a highly variable and often indistinct 3.1-μ m reflection peak as if masked by purely absorbing sub-micron grains. The size of this peak is found to diminish as phase angle increases. Other parts of the spectrum are matched by grain sizes of several 10's to 100 μ m, consistent with telescopic observations over the last two decades. This behavior can be modeled as a coarse-sized distribution covered by sub-micron grains. Higher radiation fluxes and enhanced thermal grain metamorphisis exist on the Jovian satellites relative to satellites in the Saturnian system. The grain size distribution, including a submicron component, on the Saturnian satellites may indicate surfaces in a different thermal and radiation environment that results in an accumulation of sputtered and redeposited grains.

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