Constraining the Mass and Energy of Enceladus’ Dissipation Systems

Journal article : Review

NASA’s Cassini mission revealed endogenic activity at the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The activity is concentrated along four fractures in Enceladus’ ice shell, which are much warmer than their surroundings and the source of Enceladus’ plumes. This work provides a review of the current state of knowledge of the energy and mass lost by Enceladus through this activity. Specifically, we discuss the composition of the plumes, along with their spatial and temporal variation. The mass flux loss predicted for the three plume constituents (gas, dust and charged particles) is reviewed and a total mass flux of ejected material that subsequently escapes Enceladus is estimated to be 2.1×1011 kg over a Saturn year. Given that Enceladus’ ocean is predicted to be 1019 kg this loss is sustainable in the very long term (∼1.5 billion Earth years). However, unless a resupply mechanism (such as serpentinization) exists molecular hydrogen is expected to be depleted within ∼1 million Earth years. The difficulty in determining Enceladus’ current heat flow is outlined, along with the advantages and disadvantages of the various techniques used to derive it. We find a robust lower limit for Enceladus’ exogenic production is 7.3 GW. Tidal heating models show endogenic emission of this level is sustainable, and Enceladus may have long-term near-surface heating (a result supported by studies of Enceladus’ geology). Finally, we offer suggestions for future observations, instrumentation, and missions. Enceladus remains a high-priority target for NASA, and as such it is highly likely that we will return to study this enigmatic world. Hopefully these missions will answer some of the questions that remain.

Authors: Howett, CJA; Miles, GM; Quick, LC

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Springer
• Journal: Space Science Reviews
• Volume: 221
• Issue: 5
• Article number: 56
• Publication date: 2025-06-19
• Acceptance date: 2025-06-07
• DOI: 10.1007/s11214-025-01181-7
• EISSN: 1572-9672
• ISSN: 0038-6308
• Language: English
• Keywords: Tides; Satellites; Surface; Plume
• Subtype: Review