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How the Geysers, Tidal Stresses, and Thermal Emission across the South Polar Terrain of Enceladus are Related

Nimmo, Francis; Porco, Carolyn; DiNino, Daiana

We present the first comprehensive examination of the geysering, tidal stresses, and anomalous thermal emission across the south pole of Enceladus and discuss the implications for the moon's thermal history and interior structure. A 6.5 yr survey of the moon's south polar terrain (SPT) by the Cassini imaging experiment has located ~100 jets or gey…

Tidally Modulated Eruptions on Enceladus: Cassini ISS Observations and Models

Nimmo, Francis; Porco, Carolyn; Mitchell, Colin

We use images acquired by the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) to investigate the temporal variation of the brightness and height of the south polar plume of Enceladus. The plume's brightness peaks around the moon's apoapse, but with no systematic variation in scale height with either plume brightness or Enceladus' orbital position. We comp…

Exploring Overstabilities in Saturn's A Ring Using Two Stellar Occultations

Nicholson, P. D.; Hedman, M. M.; Salo, H.

Certain regions of Saturn's rings exhibit periodic opacity variations with characteristic radial wavelengths of up to a few hundred meters that have been attributed to viscous overstabilities. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer on board the Cassini spacecraft observed two stellar occultations of the star γ Crucis that had sufficient reso…