Vapor plume on Enceladus – a modelling journey there and back again.

• Date: 5. 1. 2023
• Time: 14:00 - 15:30
• Address:
  Sokolovská 83, Praha
• Room: K3
• Speaker: Ondřej Souček

In this talk, we present our recent understanding of the activity of the vapor plume emanating from the south-polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The discovery of the plume led to a skyrocketing increase of scientific interest in the moon as it brought evidence for the existence of its internal ocean and allowed for sampling of its composition. However, no satisfactory explanation has been provided so far concerning the observed timing of the plume activity. We present the results of our modeling effort in this regard combining a 3d visco-elasto-plastic model of the outer shell of the moon which includes Tiger stripes – cracks in the south polar region, a simplified hydrodynamic model of the water column dynamics in the cracks and a model of water vapor transport in the upper section of the crack. We discuss the capacity of the model to explain the mystery of Enceladus' plume activity timing.