Degree-one convection and the origin of Enceladus’ dichotomy
Recently, the Cassini spacecraft has detected ongoing geologic activity near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. In contrast, its north-polar region is heavily cratered and appears to have been geologically inactive for a long time. We propose that this hemispheric dichotomy is caused by the...
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ftdlr:oai:elib.dlr.de:51075 2024-05-19T07:48:36+00:00 Degree-one convection and the origin of Enceladus’ dichotomy Grott, M. Sohl, F. Hussmann, H. 2007-08 https://elib.dlr.de/51075/ unknown Grott, M. und Sohl, F. und Hussmann, H. (2007) Degree-one convection and the origin of Enceladus’ dichotomy. In: 2nd European Planetary Science Congress, EPSC2007-A-00010. European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC), 2007-08-20 - 2007-08-24, Potsdam, Germany. Planetenphysik Konferenzbeitrag NonPeerReviewed 2007 ftdlr 2024-04-25T00:11:41Z Recently, the Cassini spacecraft has detected ongoing geologic activity near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. In contrast, its north-polar region is heavily cratered and appears to have been geologically inactive for a long time. We propose that this hemispheric dichotomy is caused by the satellite’s interior dynamics and that a degree-one convection pattern is driving the south-polar activity. We investigate a number of core sizes and internal heating rates for which degreeone convection occurs. The numerical simulations imply that a core radius of less than 120 km and an energy input at a rate of 3.0 to 5.5 GW would be required for degree-one convection to prevail. This is within the range of the observed thermal power release near Enceladus’ south pole. Provided that Enceladus is not fully differentiated, degree-one convection is found to be a viable mechanism to explain Enceladus’ hemispheric dichotomy. Conference Object South pole German Aerospace Center: elib - DLR electronic library |
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German Aerospace Center: elib - DLR electronic library |
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Planetenphysik |
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Planetenphysik Grott, M. Sohl, F. Hussmann, H. Degree-one convection and the origin of Enceladus’ dichotomy |
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Planetenphysik |
description |
Recently, the Cassini spacecraft has detected ongoing geologic activity near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. In contrast, its north-polar region is heavily cratered and appears to have been geologically inactive for a long time. We propose that this hemispheric dichotomy is caused by the satellite’s interior dynamics and that a degree-one convection pattern is driving the south-polar activity. We investigate a number of core sizes and internal heating rates for which degreeone convection occurs. The numerical simulations imply that a core radius of less than 120 km and an energy input at a rate of 3.0 to 5.5 GW would be required for degree-one convection to prevail. This is within the range of the observed thermal power release near Enceladus’ south pole. Provided that Enceladus is not fully differentiated, degree-one convection is found to be a viable mechanism to explain Enceladus’ hemispheric dichotomy. |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Grott, M. Sohl, F. Hussmann, H. |
author_facet |
Grott, M. Sohl, F. Hussmann, H. |
author_sort |
Grott, M. |
title |
Degree-one convection and the origin of Enceladus’ dichotomy |
title_short |
Degree-one convection and the origin of Enceladus’ dichotomy |
title_full |
Degree-one convection and the origin of Enceladus’ dichotomy |
title_fullStr |
Degree-one convection and the origin of Enceladus’ dichotomy |
title_full_unstemmed |
Degree-one convection and the origin of Enceladus’ dichotomy |
title_sort |
degree-one convection and the origin of enceladus’ dichotomy |
publishDate |
2007 |
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https://elib.dlr.de/51075/ |
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South pole |
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South pole |
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Grott, M. und Sohl, F. und Hussmann, H. (2007) Degree-one convection and the origin of Enceladus’ dichotomy. In: 2nd European Planetary Science Congress, EPSC2007-A-00010. European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC), 2007-08-20 - 2007-08-24, Potsdam, Germany. |
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1799466911232163840 |