Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p31d..02m&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P31D-02
Other
5422 Ices, 5475 Tectonics (8149), 5480 Volcanism (6063, 8148, 8450), 6218 Jovian Satellites, 6221 Europa
Scientific paper
A rich picture has emerged of the four Galileans in the last decade, but for each moon fundamental questions naturally remain unanswered. I will attempt to review a selection of these whose broader application to planetary and satellite science may prove important. Io's volcanic hyperactivity is well known, and offers clues to Io's tidally heated interior state, but the same effusions obscure much of what happens in the interior. The magmas are hot, but how hot? What is the spatial pattern of tidal heating and how is magma transported? Are models based on upwelling of the Earth's upper mantle sufficient, or must more exotic models, such as porous flow through a non-convecting solid matrix, be invoked? What about the canonical (at least at one time) magma ocean? Are Io's spectacular mountains mere "window dressing" or vital clues to otherwise perplexing interior processes? Moving to the exterior moon, Callisto, the central scientific question for this body is how it acquired its ocean yet managed not to be deeply melted (differentiated)? Ganymede (an honorary sister) is ostensibly deeply differentiated, but the existence (if not persistence) of a strong magnetic dynamo within its iron core is a profound puzzle. At the surface, the relative roles of ice-water volcanism and tectonic resurfacing in creating the grooved and "smooth" terrains that cover 2/3 of the solar system's largest satellite remain debated. The stakes for understanding ice resurfacing elsewhere (Europa, Enceladus) are great. And it is Europa that commands our greatest attention. A decade of research has reached a level of maturity: while researchers may disagree on shell thickness, the consensus is that the ocean exists. With a massive body of liquid water, multiple energy sources proposed, and different paths to provide C and other biogenic elements, the central question is Europa's potential for life. There is no greater question.
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