Constraining the Mass and Energy of Enceladus’ Dissipation Systems
摘要
NASA’s Cassini mission revealed endogenic activity at the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The activity is concentrated along four fractures in Enceladus’ ice shell, which are much warmer than their surroundings and the source of Enceladus’ plumes. This work provides a review of the current state of knowledge of the energy and mass lost by Enceladus through this activity. Specifically, we discuss the composition of the plumes, along with their spatial and temporal variation. The mass flux loss predicted for the three plume constituents (gas, dust and charged particles) is reviewed and a total mass flux of ejected material that subsequently escapes Enceladus is estimated to be