Temperature, grain size, and CO2-clathrate hydrates maps of Enceladus and Dione

Details Temperature, grain size, and CO2-clathrate hydrates maps of Enceladus and Dione Temperature, grain size, and CO2-clathrate hydrates maps of Enceladus and Dione

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p23d1744t&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P23D-1744

Physics

Geophysics

[3255] Mathematical Geophysics / Spectral Analysis, [5422] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Ices, [5464] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Remote Sensing, [6055] Planetary Sciences: Comets And Small Bodies / Surfaces

Scientific paper

Reflectance spectra of water ice have absorption bands at 1.30 and 1.50 μm that depend on temperature and grain size. Band shape measurements can be used to characterize the surface properties of icy celestial bodies1,2,3. Moreover, CO2-clathrates have a diagnostic and unique absorption band at 2.7 μm. Mapping of these properties and components of the surface can be used to better constrain the internal activity and surface tectonics. We present an analysis of the 1.30 and 1.50 μm water ice absorption bands and the 2.7-μm CO2-clathrates absorption band in reflectance spectra from VIMS on Cassini in order to understand the geological history of the South Pole of Enceladus and an equatorial area of Dione. We have synthesized samples of pure ice Ih grains and acquired reflectance spectra between 1 and 5 μm with a Nicolet Fourier Transform spectrometer to investigate the characteristics of near-IR spectra using temperature and pressure ranges relevant for the icy satellites of Saturn. Forty-seven spectra of crystalline water ice have been acquired. We have derived two empirical laws to calculate temperature and grain size from pure crystalline water ice spectrum4. We have also synthesized samples of CO2-clathrates and acquired reflectance spectra for the band. These two spectra have been used as end-member. A linear sum is computed using the end-member spectra: [CRF×(clathrate)+(1-CRF)×(pure water ice)], where CRF is the to-be-determined clathrate ratio factor, 'clathrate' and 'pure water ice' are the reference spectra (end-member). Figure 1 shows results on one equatorial area where craters and ridges can be observed. Temperature appears to be higher besides the ridges (Figure 1f), but this may indicate that water ice is amorphous, which results in overestimating the temperature. Along the ridge, grain size is larger (Figure 1e), and CO2-clathrates have higher concentration near the ridges (Figure 1d). All these clues indicate a recent activity that we are planning to interpret in more details. 1)Fink and Larson, Icarus, 1975. 2)Leto et al. Mem. S.A.It. Suppl. 2005. 3)Grundy, Icarus, 1999. 4)Taffin et al., PSS, 2011

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