Radar attenuation in Europa's ice shell: Obstacles and opportunities for constraining the shell thickness and its thermal structure

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11320%2F17%3A10360835" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11320/17:10360835 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016JE005110" target="_blank" >http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016JE005110</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016JE005110" target="_blank" >10.1002/2016JE005110</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Radar attenuation in Europa's ice shell: Obstacles and opportunities for constraining the shell thickness and its thermal structure

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

Young surface and possible recent endogenic activity make Europa one of the most exciting solar system bodies and a primary target for spacecraft exploration. Future Europa missions are expected to carry ice-penetrating radar instruments designed to investigate its subsurface thermophysical structure. Several authors have addressed the radar sounders&apos; performance at icy moons, often ignoring the complex structure of a realistic ice shell. Here we explore the variation in two-way radar attenuation for a variety of potential thermal structures of Europa&apos;s shell (determined by reference viscosity, activation energy, tidal heating, surface temperature, and shell thickness) as well as for low and high loss temperature-dependent attenuation model. We found that (i) for all investigated ice shell thicknesses (5-30km), the radar sounder will penetrate between 15% and 100% of the total thickness, (ii) the maximum penetration depth varies laterally, with deepest penetration possible through cold downwellings, (iii) direct ocean detection might be possible for shells of up to 15km thick if the signal travels through cold downwelling ice or the shell is conductive, (iv) even if the ice/ocean interface is not directly detected, penetration through most of the shell could constrain the deep shell structure through returns from deep non-ocean interfaces or the loss of signal itself, and (v) for all plausible ice shells, the two-way attenuation to the eutectic point is less than or similar to 30dB which shows a robust potential for longitudinal investigation of the ice shell&apos;s shallow thermophysical structure.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Radar attenuation in Europa's ice shell: Obstacles and opportunities for constraining the shell thickness and its thermal structure

Popis výsledku anglicky

Young surface and possible recent endogenic activity make Europa one of the most exciting solar system bodies and a primary target for spacecraft exploration. Future Europa missions are expected to carry ice-penetrating radar instruments designed to investigate its subsurface thermophysical structure. Several authors have addressed the radar sounders&apos; performance at icy moons, often ignoring the complex structure of a realistic ice shell. Here we explore the variation in two-way radar attenuation for a variety of potential thermal structures of Europa&apos;s shell (determined by reference viscosity, activation energy, tidal heating, surface temperature, and shell thickness) as well as for low and high loss temperature-dependent attenuation model. We found that (i) for all investigated ice shell thicknesses (5-30km), the radar sounder will penetrate between 15% and 100% of the total thickness, (ii) the maximum penetration depth varies laterally, with deepest penetration possible through cold downwellings, (iii) direct ocean detection might be possible for shells of up to 15km thick if the signal travels through cold downwelling ice or the shell is conductive, (iv) even if the ice/ocean interface is not directly detected, penetration through most of the shell could constrain the deep shell structure through returns from deep non-ocean interfaces or the loss of signal itself, and (v) for all plausible ice shells, the two-way attenuation to the eutectic point is less than or similar to 30dB which shows a robust potential for longitudinal investigation of the ice shell&apos;s shallow thermophysical structure.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10500 - Earth and related environmental sciences

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/GJ15-14263Y" target="_blank" >GJ15-14263Y: Tání ledu a transportní procesy v ledové slupce Europy</a><br>

Návaznosti

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Rok uplatnění

2017

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets

ISSN

2169-9097

e-ISSN

—

Svazek periodika

122

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

3

Stát vydavatele periodika

US - Spojené státy americké

Počet stran výsledku

22

Strana od-do

524-545

Kód UT WoS článku

000399652100004

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

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