In icy ocean worlds, size matters!

TL;DR

This study uses a box model to analyze how the size of icy moons influences ocean circulation and ice shell shape, revealing larger moons tend to have flatter ice shells due to stronger heat transport.

Contribution

It introduces a new understanding of the relationship between moon size, ocean circulation, and ice shell geometry through modeling and experiments.

Findings

Larger icy moons have stronger ocean heat transport.

Flatter ice shells are expected on larger moons.

Model results align with observations of Enceladus and Europa.

Abstract

The ice shell and subsurface ocean on icy worlds are strongly coupled together -- heat and salinity flux from the ice shell induced by the ice thickness gradient drives circulation in the ocean, and in turn, the heat transport by ocean circulation shapes the ice shell. Since measurements in the near future are likely to remain constrained to above the ice shell, understanding this ocean-ice interaction is crucial. Using an ocean box model and a series of experiments simulating the 2D ocean circulation, we find that large icy moons with strong gravity tend to have stronger ocean heat transport under the same ice-shell topography. As a result, the equilibrium ice shell geometry is expected to be flatter on moons with larger size, and vice versa. This finding is broadly consistent with the observed ice shell geometry for Enceladus and Europa.