The ocean currents on Saturn’s moon are similar to Earth’s, are there any signs of life?

Suara.com – The sixth great moon Saturn, Enceladus, There is a mysterious ice crust which experts believe has kept the oceans under its currents.

According to the new analysis, the ice covering Enceladus’ oceans, these currents may flow like ocean currents on Earth.

Cassini’s earlier voyages found geysers of molten water from cracks in Enceladus’s ice shell. This proves that the moon is not entirely ice, but contains salty seawater.

The combination of cracks in liquid water and ice helps scientists understand how Enceladus works.

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When Enceladus made an elliptical orbit around Saturn for 1.37 days, the changing gravitational pull extended to the moon.

This pressure creates internal heat and thermal action, creating cracks in the ice surface.

Internal heating keeps the inner oceans liquid and comes out as geysers at regular intervals.

That internal heating also creates vertical convection currents, similar to those found on Earth, in which currents send warm water up and cool before returning.

However, because Enceladus is so different from Earth, it’s unclear whether its oceans have anything in common.

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Earth’s oceans have an average depth of 3.7 km, while Enceladus is at least 30 km deep and covered by 20 km of ice.

“We have a lead on Enceladus ice. The ice at the lunar poles is thinner than the equator and higher at the South Pole, where the geysers are erupting, “said Ana Lobo, a geophysicist from Caltech. Scientific warning, Tuesday (30/3/2021).

Thin ice is associated with higher melting and thicker ice is associated with higher freezing.

This means that the ocean below where the ice is concentrated is salty because only the water freezes and most of the salt is released back into the water.

Whereas in the melting area it is the opposite. The water will be fresh and thick so that it is on the top. On Earth, these conditions create a kind of “conveyor belt” flow.

On the other hand, ocean currents on Earth also play a role in the distribution of nutrients. This makes experts wonder if there is life on Enceladus.

Currently, there are no specific missions designed to investigate Enceladus, but the Dragonfly mission to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is expected to shed light on Enceladus’s oceanic orbit.

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