The salty spray of Enceladus - Implications for the plume formation
Abstract
Here we discuss the consequences of this and other recent results for the processes forming the plume. Previous Cassini observations were compatible with a variety of plume formation scenarios and contributions from "dry" sources (such as ice sublimation or clathrate decomposition) were viable. A plume source dominated by micron sized salt-rich ice grains, as reported here, eliminates significant contributions from dry, sodium poor sources and severely constrains or rules out non-liquid models in their present form. The resent measurements strongly imply that a salt-water reservoir with a large, but probably non-contiguous or porous, evaporating surface1,4,5 injects most of the matter forming the plume. The relatively low abundance of non-soluable gases6,7 in the plume is in agreement with a contribution from warm ice-sublimation to the gas flux.
- Publication:
-
EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011
- Pub Date:
- October 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011epsc.conf..642P