The role of ocean circulation in driving hemispheric symmetry breaking of the ice shell of Enceladus

The ice shell of Enceladus exhibits strong asymmetry between its hemispheres, with all known geysers concentrated over the south pole, even though its orbital configuration is almost perfectly symmetric. By exploring ocean circulation across a range of ocean salinities and core/shell heating partitions, we study the role of ice-ocean interaction in hemispheric symmetry breaking. We find that: (i) asymmetry is enhanced by cross-equatorial ocean heat transport when the ice shell is the major heat source and vice versa, (ii) the magnitude of ocean heat transport can be comparable to the global heat production, significantly affecting the ice shell evolution and equilibrium state and (iii) more than one equilibrium state can exist due to a positive feedback between melting and ocean circulation. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study found that the asymmetry of Enceladus's ice shell is exacerbated by cross-equatorial ocean heat transport, which significantly affects the evolution and equilibrium state of the ice shell, and multiple equilibrium states may exist due to a positive feedback between melting and ocean circulation.