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Estimating the 3D structure of the Enceladus ice shell from flexural and Crary waves
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  • Angela Giuliano Marusiak,
  • Saikiran Tharimena,
  • Mark Paul Panning,
  • Steven Douglas Vance,
  • Simon C. Stähler,
  • Christian Boehm,
  • Martin van Driel
Angela Giuliano Marusiak
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Saikiran Tharimena
University of Vienna
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Mark Paul Panning
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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Steven Douglas Vance
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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Simon C. Stähler
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
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Christian Boehm
Department of Earth Sciences, Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zürich
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Martin van Driel
ETH Zürich
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Abstract

A seismic investigation on Saturn’s moon Enceladus could determine the thickness of the ice shell, along with variations from the mean thickness, by recovering phase and group velocities, and through the frequency content of surface waves. Here, we model the Enceladus ice shell with uniform thicknesses of 5 km, 20 km, and 40 km, as well as with ice topography ranging from 5-40 km. We investigate several approaches for recovering the mean ice shell thickness. We show that surface wave dispersions could be used to determine the mean ice shell thickness. Flexural waves in the ice only occur if the shell is thinner than a critical value < 20 km. Rayleigh waves dominate only in thicker ice shells. The frequency content of Crary waves depends on the ice shell thickness.