Sodium salts in E-ring ice grains from an ocean below the surface of Enceladus
Saturn's moon Enceladus emits plumes of water vapour and ice particles from fractures near its south pole(1-5), suggesting the possibility of a subsurface ocean(5-7). These plume particles are the dominant source of Saturn's E ring(7,8). A previous in situ analysis(9) of these particles co...
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ftubpotsdam:oai:kobv.de-opus4-uni-potsdam:31861 2023-05-15T18:22:46+02:00 Sodium salts in E-ring ice grains from an ocean below the surface of Enceladus Postberg, Frank Kempf, Sascha Schmidt, Jürgen Brilliantov, Nikolai V. Beinsen, Alexander Abel, Bernd Buck, Udo Srama, Ralf 2009 https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/31861 https://doi.org/10.1038/Nature08046 eng eng https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/31861 https://doi.org/10.1038/Nature08046 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Institut für Physik und Astronomie article doc-type:article 2009 ftubpotsdam https://doi.org/10.1038/Nature08046 2022-07-28T20:44:44Z Saturn's moon Enceladus emits plumes of water vapour and ice particles from fractures near its south pole(1-5), suggesting the possibility of a subsurface ocean(5-7). These plume particles are the dominant source of Saturn's E ring(7,8). A previous in situ analysis(9) of these particles concluded that the minor organic or siliceous components, identified in many ice grains, could be evidence for interaction between Enceladus' rocky core and liquid water(9,10). It was not clear, however, whether the liquid is still present today or whether it has frozen. Here we report the identification of a population of E-ring grains that are rich in sodium salts (similar to 0.5- 2% by mass), which can arise only if the plumes originate from liquid water. The abundance of various salt components in these particles, as well as the inferred basic pH, exhibit a compelling similarity to the predicted composition of a subsurface Enceladus ocean in contact with its rock core(11). The plume vapour is expected to be free of atomic sodium. Thus, the absence of sodium from optical spectra(12) is in good agreement with our results. In the E ring the upper limit for spectroscopy(12) is insufficiently sensitive to detect the concentrations we found. Article in Journal/Newspaper South pole University of Potsdam: publish.UP South Pole Nature 459 7250 1098 1101 |
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University of Potsdam: publish.UP |
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English |
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Institut für Physik und Astronomie |
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Institut für Physik und Astronomie Postberg, Frank Kempf, Sascha Schmidt, Jürgen Brilliantov, Nikolai V. Beinsen, Alexander Abel, Bernd Buck, Udo Srama, Ralf Sodium salts in E-ring ice grains from an ocean below the surface of Enceladus |
topic_facet |
Institut für Physik und Astronomie |
description |
Saturn's moon Enceladus emits plumes of water vapour and ice particles from fractures near its south pole(1-5), suggesting the possibility of a subsurface ocean(5-7). These plume particles are the dominant source of Saturn's E ring(7,8). A previous in situ analysis(9) of these particles concluded that the minor organic or siliceous components, identified in many ice grains, could be evidence for interaction between Enceladus' rocky core and liquid water(9,10). It was not clear, however, whether the liquid is still present today or whether it has frozen. Here we report the identification of a population of E-ring grains that are rich in sodium salts (similar to 0.5- 2% by mass), which can arise only if the plumes originate from liquid water. The abundance of various salt components in these particles, as well as the inferred basic pH, exhibit a compelling similarity to the predicted composition of a subsurface Enceladus ocean in contact with its rock core(11). The plume vapour is expected to be free of atomic sodium. Thus, the absence of sodium from optical spectra(12) is in good agreement with our results. In the E ring the upper limit for spectroscopy(12) is insufficiently sensitive to detect the concentrations we found. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Postberg, Frank Kempf, Sascha Schmidt, Jürgen Brilliantov, Nikolai V. Beinsen, Alexander Abel, Bernd Buck, Udo Srama, Ralf |
author_facet |
Postberg, Frank Kempf, Sascha Schmidt, Jürgen Brilliantov, Nikolai V. Beinsen, Alexander Abel, Bernd Buck, Udo Srama, Ralf |
author_sort |
Postberg, Frank |
title |
Sodium salts in E-ring ice grains from an ocean below the surface of Enceladus |
title_short |
Sodium salts in E-ring ice grains from an ocean below the surface of Enceladus |
title_full |
Sodium salts in E-ring ice grains from an ocean below the surface of Enceladus |
title_fullStr |
Sodium salts in E-ring ice grains from an ocean below the surface of Enceladus |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sodium salts in E-ring ice grains from an ocean below the surface of Enceladus |
title_sort |
sodium salts in e-ring ice grains from an ocean below the surface of enceladus |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/31861 https://doi.org/10.1038/Nature08046 |
geographic |
South Pole |
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South Pole |
genre |
South pole |
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South pole |
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https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/31861 https://doi.org/10.1038/Nature08046 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/Nature08046 |
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Nature |
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459 |
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7250 |
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1098 |
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1101 |
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1766202182873382912 |