Ocean dynamics of outer solar system satellites

Abstract

Ocean worlds are prevalent in the solar system. Focusing on Enceladus, Titan, Europa, and Ganymede, I use rotating convection theory and numerical simulations to predict ocean currents and the potential for ice-ocean coupling. When the influence of rotation is relatively strong, the oceans have multiple zonal jets, axial convective motions, and most efficient heat transfer at high latitudes. This regime is most relevant to Enceladus and possibly to Titan, and may help explain their long-wavelength topography. For a more moderate rotational influence, fewer zonal jets form, Hadley-like circulation cells develop, and heat flux peaks near the equator. This regime is predicted for Europa, where it may help drive geologic activity via thermocompositional diapirism in the ice shell, and is possible for Titan. Weak rotational influence allows concentric zonal flows and overturning cells with no preferred orientation. Predictions for Ganymede's ocean span multiple regimes.

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Cited by in corpus (18)

• Ocean Circulation on Enceladus With a High Versus Low Salinity Ocean
• A pole-to-equator ocean overturning circulation on Enceladus
• Dynamic Europa ocean shows transient Taylor columns and convection driven by ice melting and salinity
• Latitudinal regionalization of rotating spherical shell convection
• Different ice shell geometries on Europa and Enceladus due to their different sizes: impacts of ocean heat transport
• Rotating convective turbulence in moderate to high Prandtl number fluids
• Europa's ocean translates interior tidal heating patterns to the ice-ocean boundary
• On the role of the Prandtl number in convection driven by heat sources and sinks
• High-Rayleigh-number convection in porous-fluid layers
• The role of ocean circulation in driving hemispheric symmetry breaking of the ice shell of Enceladus
• Bridging the Rossby number gap in rapidly rotating thermal convection
• The effect of salinity on ocean circulation and ice-ocean interaction on Enceladus
• Lorentz force mediation of turbulent dynamo transitions
• Optimal heat transport in rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection at large Rayleigh numbers
• Exploring the Interior Structure and Mode of Tidal Heating in Enceladus
• Open Questions and Future Directions in Titan Science
• Symmetric instability in a Boussinesq fluid on a rotating planet
• New constraint on Europa's ice shell: magnetic signature from the ocean