Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005dps....37.4715s&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #37, #47.15; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 37, p.1569
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
One important finding of the Galileo mission to Jupiter is the indirect evidence for liquid-water oceans in the interiors of the icy Galilean satellites. The magnetometer data collected around closest approach indicate that secondary magnetic fields are induced at shallow depth in response to the time-varying Jovian magnetic field. This suggests the existence of electrically conducting reservoirs of liquid water beneath the satellites' outermost icy shells that may contain even more water than all terrestrial oceans combined. Subsurface oceans are consistent with thermodynamic models of differentiated icy satellite interiors, in which the radiogenic heat production of the silicate component is balanced by the rate of heat transfer. Furthermore, the temperature at which the ice melts will be significantly reduced by soluble substances like salts and/or incorporated volatiles such as methane and ammonia that are highly abundant in the Saturnian system and beyond. Depending on the amount of volatiles incorporated in the icy component during accretion, it is likely that a large satellite such as Titan harbours a substantial internal oceans that is sandwiched between the outer ice shell and a high-pressure ice layer underneath. Furthermore, Europa-like subsurface oceans in contact with rocky cores even may have survived to the present day on the largest medium-sized Saturnian satellites, e.g. Rhea, provided that they are differentiated. Smaller satellites or those depleted in silicates, such as Dione and Iapetus, may have harboured oceans in the past because of the more intense radiogenic heat production at that time. It is unlikely, however, that Tethys, Enceladus, and Mimas as the smallest object considered here once had maintained satellite-wide liquid-water reservoirs at shallow depth.
Hussmann Hauke
Sohl Frank
No associations
LandOfFree
Subsurface Oceans on the Saturnian Satellites does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Subsurface Oceans on the Saturnian Satellites, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Subsurface Oceans on the Saturnian Satellites will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1429933