Thermal migration of water on the Galilean satellites

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980 · Icarus; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(80)90086-X· OSTI ID:5912245

Purves, N G; Pilcher, C B

We have modeled the thermal migration of water on the Galilean satellites under the assumption of ballistic molecular trajectories. It is found that water migrating owing to solar radiation on an ice-covered satellite will build up in temperate latitudes, in general not reaching the poles. As much as 50 m of ice may have been lost by this process from the equatorial regions of Europa over the age of the solar system. The disappearance of patches of ice - for instance, the bright rays surrounding some impact craters - from the equatorial regions of Ganymede and Callisto may approach a value (the irreversible evaporation rate) three orders of magnitude larger than the net equatorial loss rate for ice-covered Europa. The presence of water ice pole caps on Ganymede extending to the latitudes at which thermal migration becomes important suggests that some process distributed an extensive, thin covering of water on the satellite, and that the equatorial regions were subsequently cleared by the thermal process.

• Research Organization: Hawaii, University, Honolulu, Hawaii
• OSTI ID: 5912245
• Journal Information: Icarus; (United States), Journal Name: Icarus; (United States) Vol. 43; ISSN ICRSA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640107* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Planetary Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ATMOSPHERES
EVAPORATION
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
ICE
INSOLATION
JUPITER PLANET
LOSSES
LUNAR ATMOSPHERE
MIGRATION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PLANETS
RADIATIONS
SATELLITE ATMOSPHERES
SATELLITES
SOLAR RADIATION
STELLAR RADIATION
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
WATER