Ocean Stratification Impedes Particulate Transport to the Plumes of Enceladus

Ocean Stratification Impedes Particulate Transport to the Plumes of Enceladus | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Ocean Stratification Impedes Particulate Transport to the Plumes of Enceladus Flynn Ames, David Ferreira, Arnaud Czaja, Adam Masters This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4384659/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 06 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Earth & Environment → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Water-vapour plumes erupting from Enceladus’ south pole provide a window into the properties of its subsurface ocean, a prime target in the search for life. However, the extent to which plume material represents conditions at Enceladus’ depths is unclear, because of its unknown ocean stratification, which may impede the transport of matter to the ocean top. Previous studies have found conflicting stratification regimes using differing parameter choices and model physics. Here, we build a comprehensive view of Enceladus’ ocean stratification and bottom-to-top transport timescale, across plausible ranges of salinity and tidally- and librationally-induced mixing, accounting for non-linearities in the equation of state for water, geothermal heating and ice-ocean freshwater exchanges. We use theoretical models verified with global ocean numerical simulations. We show that, under a steady state assumption for the ice shell, which requires melting at the poles, there is no parameter choice permitting an unstratified ocean from top to bottom. As a result, potential hydrothermal products take at minimum 100s of years to reach the plumes. This suggests that either timescales of several months, inferred from Cassini observations, are incorrect, perhaps biased by alternative particulate transport mechanisms, or that Enceladus' ice shell is not in a quasi-equilibrated state. Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Planetary science/Rings and moons Earth and environmental sciences/Ocean sciences/Physical oceanography Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files supplementarymaterial.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 06 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Earth & Environment → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4384659","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":303164455,"identity":"51bddb75-30ca-41e2-a14a-2a2ebb4c685b","order_by":0,"name":"Flynn Ames","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABCElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBAC9gYwZQPjM/PAWAa4tPAcAFNppGs5DNcCl8GthYH56YYPf87nyUcfYPvwocZaxpx/AeOHHwyHjXFrYTO7ObPtdrHhuQTmmTOOpfNYznjALNnDcNgMlxZ7Bgaz27wNtxM39jAwM/OwHeYxuHGAQRroVBtcWngY2L/d/vPnHETLn39gLcy/8WvhMbvNwHYgcT7QV8yMbUAt5xvYQLbgdBgPM0/Zzd625GIDHsZmxt6+dKAtjG2WPQbpuL3P3r7txo8/dnnyPcyHGX58s7Y3OH/48I0fFdaGDbj0QCMiweAAI1SNRGIDnlhBgAR5uKH8BwgrHwWjYBSMghEFAPZYUzdJ5NcKAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4915-2163","institution":"University of Reading","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Flynn","middleName":"","lastName":"Ames","suffix":""},{"id":303164459,"identity":"cf62d970-b899-447b-9b8b-1ffd3becd20e","order_by":1,"name":"David Ferreira","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3243-9774","institution":"University of Reading","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"","lastName":"Ferreira","suffix":""},{"id":303164461,"identity":"88efbb91-cef1-4f8c-9577-1d928e8853f8","order_by":2,"name":"Arnaud Czaja","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Imperial College","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Arnaud","middleName":"","lastName":"Czaja","suffix":""},{"id":303164463,"identity":"22b36029-2454-4d48-b53a-344c28b59577","order_by":3,"name":"Adam Masters","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Imperial College London","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Adam","middleName":"","lastName":"Masters","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-05-07 17:43:33","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4384659/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4384659/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02036-3","type":"published","date":"2025-02-06T05:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":75695528,"identity":"bdfac06f-5ab9-4676-857f-1725953519d0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-07 08:09:20","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":5777443,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"maintext.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4384659/v1_covered_c3a37521-173d-4a2b-a6aa-9d21a2f972f3.pdf"},{"id":58176233,"identity":"9516df86-48ce-4ac2-bfab-453abeac50a4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-06-12 04:53:20","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":2304516,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"supplementarymaterial.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4384659/v1/09c647989d9ed0f169b2e430.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Ocean Stratification Impedes Particulate Transport to the Plumes of Enceladus","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4384659/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4384659/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Water-vapour plumes erupting from Enceladus’ south pole provide a window into the properties of its subsurface ocean, a prime target in the search for life. 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