HEATING on the JOVIAN MOON IO from 1996–2000: a Two-Year Study of Io. MB Totonchy
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Lunar and Planetary Science XXXIII (2002) 1455.pdf COMPARING VOLCANIC ACTIVITY AND SURFACE CHANGES ON THE GALILEAN SATELLITE IO AND A COMPARISON OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY AND SURFACE CHANGES TO MONITOR TIDAL HEATING ON THE JOVIAN MOON IO FROM 1996–2000: A Two-Year Study of Io. M. B. Totonchy, 1 Oregon Episcopal School (6300 SW Nicol Road, Portland, OR 97223) Introduction: changes that determined that the amount of volcanic Io is one of the four Galilean moons and one of activity on Io has increased during the 21-year period. twenty-eight total moons of Jupiter. Io is the most vol- canically active body in the solar system that we know Comparison of Volcanic Activity and Surface of and is dominated by sulfur dioxide and its products Changes to Monitor Tidal heating on the Jovian [1]. Tidal heating suggests that Io’s orbital and thermal Moon Io from 1996-2000: evolution and interior structure are all linked [2]. Heat- The purpose of the project this year was to compare ing that takes place in the large deep mantle made up of volcanic activity and surface changes on Io between mostly silicate is called deep heat while heating which 1996 and 2000 using Galileo data, to see where tidal is near the surface in the shallow asthenosphere made heat was being deposited on Io to tell if the internal up of partly molten silicate is called shallow heat. Io’s heat of Io is deep or shallow. It is known that tides of volcanism is a continuum of high temperature events of Io are creating most of the heat, which is causing con- varying power output and duration. stant volcanic activity, but the internal heat of Io is unknown. Io’s tides are being squeezed by Jupiter’s Comparing Volcanic Activity and Surface tides as Io orbits around Jupiter about every 1.8 days, Changes on the Galilean Satellite Io: so the tides on Io are very large because of the pull The purpose of this project was to measure, com- Jupiter is exerting on Io. These tides heat up because pare and analyze the volcanic activity on Io observed of friction. Io has an elliptical orbit around Jupiter, so by Galileo and Voyager. Nine of the ten volcanoes this means that Io is going very fast when it is close to known to be active at the time of Voyager were com- Jupiter and slower farther away from Jupiter, which pared to the same images of the volcanoes taken by could affect the internal heat of Io and where the tidal Galileo, 21 years later. The volcanoes analyzed were heat is being deposited. It is hypothesized that the Amirani, Maui, Prometheus, Volund, Isum, Marduk, internal heat of Io is deep, from which one would Pele, Daedalus, W.Pele, Loki, and Culann (this vol- predict greater volcanic activity near Io’s poles. Yet if cano was not active throughout both voyages, but has the internal heat of Io is shallow then it is hypothesized experienced significant changes). Of the 30 hot spots that greater volcanic activity will occur all over Io, detected in the first four orbits of the Galileo Mission, with lots of smaller hotspots near the equatorial region. 18 of them were new hot spots, 10 of them were previ- The volcanic activity on Io was measured by ously known from Voyager data to be active and the superimposing images from the different times between other 2 had been discovered by ground-based observa- 1996 to 2000 and using data imagery in Scion image tions [3]. The changes over time were compared by programs to see where most of the volcanic activity using stacks created from data images from both Voy- occurred. Filters, illumination/lighting, phase angle and ager and Galileo of these nine volcanoes. The lighting resolution were matched as close as possible between and resolution of the images were large factors, but each stack. New lava flows, new calderas and sulfur images were compared that were taken from both Voy- dioxide deposits were analyzed to see where volcanism ager and Galileo that were taken at similar illumina- accumulates on Io. The composition of Io’s plasma tions, phase angles, filters and formatted with similar torus changes from month to month and this may be be- pixel dimensions. NIH-Image was used to perform the cause of volcanic activity on Io [2]. New lava flows, shad- measurements of certain areas, mostly of new lava de- ows, new calderas and sulfur dioxide deposits are in posits, x-y coordinates, and diameters of certain active the process of being analyzed to better understand the flows. Observations were made for each of the seven activity of Io’s volcanoes during the five year period so stacks created, noting new calderas, lava flows, shad- as to see where volcanism accumulates. By tracking ows and shapes observed from both the Voyager and volcanic activity this could help explain why the Galileo images. There are new lava flows occurring in amount of dust in the Jovian System varies from month each of the stacks. Among the various observations to month, why the plasma torus varies in sulfur monox- made between the stacks were shadows in the images, ide ion from one month to the next and why neutral new calderas formed, a shifting in ash rings and new clouds vary in composition from one orbit to the next. sulfur dioxide deposits. These results indicated All of these problems could be linked to the amount of Lunar and Planetary Science XXXIII (2002) 1455.pdf STUDY OF IO: M. B. Totonchy volcanic activity on Io from month to month, so by References: tracking volcanic activity, we can compare months [1] Geissler, P., McEwen A., lp, W., Belton, M., where there was more volcanic activity to see if this Johnson, T., Smythe, W., and Ingersoll, A. (1999). affected the amount of dust, sulfur monoxide or com- Galileo Imaging of Atmospheric Emissions from Io. position of neutral clouds. Hopefully correlations be- Science, 285, 870- 873. [2] Spencer, J., and Schneider, tween volcanic activity and those variables will be N. (1996). Io on the Eve of the Galileo Mission. An- made. The data is in the process of being analyzed and nual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 24, 125- observations are being compared. 183. [3] Lopes-Gautier, R., Davis, A.G., Carlson, R., Smythe, W., Kamp, L., Leader, F.E., Mehlman, R., and Gali- leo NIMS team. (1997). Hot spots on Io: Initial results from Galileo’s near infrared mapping spectrometer. Geophysical Research Letters, 24, 2439-2442. .