[Baps] Kieffer talk Friday Nov 9 noon, EPS

[Sarah Stewart-Mukhopadhyay]

Planetary Science Seminar

Friday November 9 at Noon
EPS Faculty Lounge, 4th floor Hoffman Laboratory, 20 Oxford St.
Pizza provided

Old Faithful, Cold Faithful, and Frigid Faithful: What's Happening on
Enceladus?

Susan W. Kieffer
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Abstract: Enceladus is a tectonically active, small and frigid satellite of
Saturn.   Therefore it was of considerable surprise that the magnetometer,
imaging and thermal systems on the Cassini spacecraft descovered active
plumes erupting from warm spots at the south pole.  These plumes soar
hundreds of kilometers into the vacuous atmosphere, replenishing ice
particles into the E-ring of Saturn.   In this talk, we'll review
terrestrial geyser dynamics, and examine the two proposed explanations for
the plume of Enceladus: eruption of water from liquid reservoirs near the
surface or eruption of water and other gases from a colder subsurface
clathrate reservoir.   The clathrate reservoir model accounts for the plume
observations as well as major features of the south polar tectonic terrains.
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