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Searching for Subsurface Oceans on the Moons of Uranus Using Magnetic Induction
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  • Benjamin P Weiss,
  • John B. Biersteker,
  • Vittorio Colicci,
  • Allison Goode,
  • Julie C Castillo-Rogez,
  • Anastassios E. E Petropoulos,
  • Tibor S. Balint
Benjamin P Weiss
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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John B. Biersteker
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Vittorio Colicci
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Allison Goode
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Julie C Castillo-Rogez
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Anastassios E. E Petropoulos
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Tibor S. Balint
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Abstract

Icy moons around the ice giant planets may contain subsurface oceans. Their oceans could be detected and characterized using measurements of magnetic fields induced by the host planet’s time-varying magnetospheric field. We explore the possibility of detecting and characterizing subsurface oceans among the five major moons of Uranus—with a particular focus on Ariel—using spacecraft magnetometry measurements. We find that the magnetic field at each moon is dominated by the synodic frequency with amplitudes ranging from ~4 nT at Oberon up to ~300 nT at Miranda. If these bodies contain oceans with sufficient thicknesses (>~6-100 km) and conductivities (>2 S m-1), the induced surface fields should have amplitudes exceeding the typical ~1 nT sensitivity of spacecraft magnetometry investigations. Furthermore, the magnetic field at the moons spans periods ranging from 1 to 103 h. This could enable long-term measurements to separately constrain ocean and ice thicknesses and ocean salinity.