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Evidence for temporal variability of Enceladus' gas jets: Modeling of Cassini observations

2008; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 35; Issue: 20 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1029/2008gl035811

1944-8007

Joachim Saur, N. Schilling, F. M. Neubauer, D. F. Strobel, Sven Simon, M. K. Dougherty, C. T. Russell, R. T. Pappalardo,

Geology and Paleoclimatology Research

Time variability of Enceladus' gas plume is deduced from a joint investigation of Cassini spacecraft magnetic field data obtained during the first three flybys E0, E1 and E2 and neutral density measurements during the E2 flyby with a model that describes Enceladus' plasma interaction with individual jets. We infer a total plume content of ∼7 × 10 32 H 2 O molecules corresponding to a mass loss rate of ∼1600 kg/s for the E0 flyby and ∼9 × 10 31 H 2 O molecules corresponding to a mass loss of ∼200 kg/s for the E1 and E2 flybys. The magnetic field measurements also support upstream/downstream changes of the plume activity locations. On the first three Enceladus flybys Cassini did not fly through the densest parts of the plumes, which were a factor of 10–100 times higher at the same altitudes.