Thermal migration of water on the Galilean satellites

Details Thermal migration of water on the Galilean satellites Thermal migration of water on the Galilean satellites

Jul 1980

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1980icar...43...51p&link_type=abstract

Icarus, vol. 43, July 1980, p. 51-55.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

9

Astronomical Models, Galilean Satellites, Molecular Trajectories, Planetary Composition, Temperature Gradients, Water Temperature, Ballistic Trajectories, Callisto, Europa, Evaporation, Ganymede, Ice, Insolation, Solar Radiation, Jupiter, Satellites, Water, Thermal Effects, Mathematical Models, Data, Ice, Solar Radiation, Equatorial Regions, Polar Regions, Distribution, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Latitude, Evaporation, Temperatures

Scientific paper

We have modeled the thermal migration of water on the Galilean satellites under the assumption of ballistic molecular trajectories. It is found that water migrating owing to solar radiation on an ice-covered satellite will build up in temperate latitudes, in general not reaching the poles. As much as 50 m of ice may have been lost by this process from the equatorial regions of Europa over the age of the solar system. The disappearance of patches of ice - for instance, the bright rays surrounding some impact craters - from the equatorial regions of Ganymede and Callisto may approach a value (the irreversible evaporation rate) three orders of magnitude larger than the net equatorial loss rate for ice-covered Europa. The presence of water ice pole caps on Ganymede extending to the latitudes at which thermal migration becomes important suggests that some process distributed an extensive, thin covering of water on the satellite, and that the equatorial regions were subsequently cleared by the thermal process.

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