Thermal anomaly in Enceladus' South Pole subsurface

• Main Authors: Le Gall, Alice, Leyrat, C., Janssen, M. A., Stolzenbach, Aurélien, West, R., Lorenz, R. D., Mitchell, K., Ries, P.
• Other Authors: PLANETO - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique (LESIA), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA-California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Laurel, MD (APL)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: [SDU.ASTR.EP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]; [PHYS.ASTR.EP]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]; South pole
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00922928; https://hal.science/hal-00922928/document; https://hal.science/hal-00922928/file/EPSC2013-808_-_copie.pdf

On November 6, 2011, during the E16 flyby, the Cassini Radar had a unique opportunity to closely observe Enceladus in both its active and passive modes of operation. The E16 swath aimed at about 66°S, close to the active South polar rifted area. In this paper, we show that the radiometry data collected during this flyby revealed brightness temperatures much higher than expected, pointing to a geothermal anomaly in the subsurface. This anomaly could be indicative of a buried heat source, unless it is due to exotic thermal processes such as the solid-state greenhouse effect.