[ESAC Student Seminar] Yixiao Zhang

“Strong Lateral Mixing and Long Transit Time in Near-Global Simulations of Ocean Convection on Enceladus”

Tidal heating within the rocky core of Enceladus can drive convection in the ocean, which may rapidly communicate the seafloor and the ice shell. Such heating may focus on narrow stripes (Choblet et al. 2017), enhancing local vertical transport. Here, we use Oceananigans to investigate the transport of passive tracers released from the seafloor due to such convection, focusing on the effects of bottom heating patterns.

Two key non-dimensional numbers have been identified: the natural Rossby number (the relative importance of the Coriolis force) and the domain aspect ratio. The parameter space is divided into different regimes. We also establish a scaling between the vertical transit time and the natural Rossby number, which predicts a long transit time of at least tens of years across the ocean of Enceladus.

ESAC Student Seminar Series —

A forum for students and postdocs to share recent research, hone presentation skills, and build community among peers, sponsored by the EAPS Student Advisory Committee. Open to current EAPS graduate and undergraduate students and postdocs. Typically hosted on Thursdays during the semester, including pizza lunch.

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