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We used thermodynamic models and HST observations of Pele plume to calculate the temperature (1430 K) and oxidation state (log fO2 = -11.7) of volcanic gases and magmas of Pele. Our estimated vent pressure is 10(exp -3) to 10(exp -5) bars.
Galileo data for magma temperature at Pele and HST chemical data (SO2, S2, and SO) for Pele plumes were used to evaluate vent pressure (10 -4 -2 bar), the oxidation state (2-3 log fO2 units below Ni-NiO), and chemistry of volcanic gases. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
The eyes of Galileo: See Pele's glory at many wavelengths. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
Temperatures of Io's Pele hotspot were found using dual-filter observations from Galileo and Cassini. Temperatures average 1375 K, but vary widely over tens of minutes. Dropoff in emission with rotation consistent with lava fountaining at a lava lake. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
The Galileo spacecraft has been periodically monitoring volcanic activity on Io since June 1996, making it possible to chart the evolution of individual eruptions.
We used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to calculate roughness patterns (homogeneity, mean-roughness, and entropy) for five lava types at two different resolutions (1.5 and 0.1 m/pixel). We found that end-member types (a a and pahoehoe) are separable (with 95% confidence) at both scales, indicating that roughness patterns are well suited for analyzing types of lava. Intermediate lavas were also explored, and we found that slabby-pahoehoe is separable from the other end-members using 1.5 m/pixel data, but not in the 0.1 m/pixel analysis. This suggests that the conversion from pahoehoe to slabby-pahoehoe is a meter-scale process, and the finer roughness characteristics of pahoehoe, such as ropes and toes, are not significantly affected. Furthermore, we introduce the ratio ENT/HOM (derived from lava roughness) as a proxy for assessing local lava flow rate from topographic data. High entropy and low homogeneity regions correlate with high flow rate while low entropy and high homogeneity regions correlate with low flow rate.We suggest that this relationship is not directional, rather it is apparent through roughness differences of the associated lava type emplaced at the high and low rates, respectively.
Results of an analysis of the properties, source regions and deposits of volcanic plumes on Io are presented which suggest the presence of two plume types. Eruptions at the Aten Patera caldera in the south polar region and the Surt caldera in the far north, which were deduced to have taken place between the times of the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 encounters from evidence of surface changes, are similar to the Pele eruption. These Pele-type eruptions are characterized by durations of from a few days to a few weeks, dark-red annular deposits of about 1400 km in diameter, temperatures of about 650 K and locations restricted to areas with large, silicate landforms. Smaller, more numerous eruptions of the Prometheus type were observed on both encounters, being characterized by durations in excess of several years, bright ringed deposits about 250 km in diameter, restriction to an equatorial location high in SO2 and temperatures less than 400 K. In addition, an intermediate type of feature was noted at either end of the linear feature Loki. Two separate mechanisms, involving SO2 and sulfur as driving sources, are proposed to account for the Pele- and Prometheus-type eruptions, respectively, and the discrete temperatures of the plumes are suggested to reflect the temperatures at which sulfur is a low-viscosity fluid.
Significant near-surface flow of gas several hundred kilometers from Pele (Plume 1) on Io is indicated by a series of bright, elongate albedo markings. Particles produced at small, local vents are apparently carried as much as 70 km farther 'downwind' from Pele. The gas densities and velocities necessary to suspend 0.1 to 10 micron particles at such a distance imply mass flow rates of 10 to the 7th - 10 to the 9th g/sec. Such flow rates are consistent with other estimates of mass transport by the plume. The large flow rates so far from the source allow an estimate of the rate of resurfacing of Io by lava flows and pyroclastics that is independent of estimates based on meteorite flux or on the amount of solids carried within the plumes themselves.
Comparison of Io's large scale topography with an SO2 abundance map shows that SO2 is concentrated in equatorial topographic basins. In these basins, about 30 pct. of the surface is covered by SO2 at all elevations above the mean triaxial figure, and SO2 coverage increases with decreasing elevation to as much as 56 pct. at elevations below -1.5 km. The correlation is not good from long 240 to 360 degs where bright areas are covered by red, Pele type plume fallout, and in the polar regions where the topography is poorly known. The histogram of SO2 abundance binned by elevation appears bimodal, with a secondary concentration of SO2 at high elevations, but it is not certain that this is significant. Additional observations suggest that the basins have relatively little higher frequency topographic relief. The distribution of active plumes and hotspots show no obvious correlation with the topography. However, the Pele type plume all erupted from regions higher than the mean figure, and five of the eight Prometheus type plumes are more energetic and are associated with high temperature hotspots, whereas Prometheus type plumes are long lived and require large volatile reservoirs.
The recent observation of NaCl (gas) on Io confirms our earlier prediction that NaCl is produced volcanically. Here we extend our calculations by modeling thermochemical equilibrium of O, S, Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, F, Cl, Br, and I as a function of temperature and pressure in a Pele-like volcanic gas with O/S/Na/Cl/K = 1.518/1/0.05/0.04/0.005 and CI chondritic ratios of the other (as yet unobserved) alkalis and halogens. For reference, the nominal temperature and pressure for Pele is 1760 plus or minus 210 K and 0.01 bars based on Galileo data and modeling.
Introduction: We report on the analysis of the Galileo SSI's observations of the volcanic activity at Tvashtar Catena, Io as discussed by Milazzo et al. Galileo's Solid State Imager (SSI) observed Tvashtar Catena (63 deg N, 120 deg W) four times between November 1999 and October 2001, providing a unique look at the distinctive high latitude volcanism on Io. The November 1999 observation spatially resolved, for the first time, an active extraterrestrial fissure eruption. The brightness temperature of the lavas at the November 1999 fissure eruption was 1300 K. The second observation (orbit I27, February 2000) showed a large (approx. 500 sq km) region with many, small spots of hot, active lava. The third observation was taken in conjunction with a Cassini observation in December 2000 and showed a Pele-like plume deposition ring, while the Cassini images revealed a 400 km high Pele-type plume above the Catena. The final Galileo SSI observation of Tvashtar was acquired in October 2001, and all obvious (to SSI) activity had ceased, although data from Galileo's Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) indicated that there was still significant thermal emission from the Tvashtar region. We have concentrated on analyzing the style of eruption during orbit I27 (February 2000). Comparison with a lava flow cooling model indicates that the behavior of the Tvashtar eruption during I27 does not match that of "simple" advancing lava flows. Instead, it may be an active lava lake or a complex set of lava flows with episodic, overlapping (in time and space) eruptions.
The present Voyager imaging data multispectral mosaics of Io include global mosaics from each of the Voyager 1 and 2 data sets and a high-resolution mosaic of the region centered on the Ra Patera volcano. The constancy of the disk-integrated color and albedo of Io over recent decades despite volcanic activity may be due to the regular occurrence of large Pele-type plumes with relatively dark, red deposits. Io's intrinsic spectral variability involves continuous variation among three major spectral end members. Attention is given to the mapping of the data into five spectral units for the purposes of comparison with laboratory measurements of Io surface material candidates.
Voyager multispectral mosaics, earth-observed spectra, and photometric characterizations have been used to model and globally map the SO2 distribution and abundances, the bolometric hemispheric albedos, and the passive surface temperatures on Io. The SO2 is noted to be concentrated in the bright equatorial band, while being deficient in the region defined by Pele-type volcanic eruptions and the polar regions. The brightest, locally coldest areas correspond to SO2-rich regions, although many small patches occur elsewhere. These results are found to support the regional cold-trapping model for the surface and atmospheric SO2 of Fanale et al. (1982).
Observations of the trailing hemisphere of Io made with the Faint Object Spectrograph of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in March 1992 have resulted in the first detection of atmospheric SO2 absorption bands in the ultraviolet. These observations represent only the third positive means of detection of what is widely believed to be Io's primary atmospheric constituent. Below approximately 2130 A the geometric albedo of the satellite is dominated by SO2 gas absorption band signatures, which have been analyzed using models that include the effects of optical thickness, temperature, and spatial distribution. The disk-intergrated HST data cannot resolve the spatial distribution, but it is possible to define basic properties and set constraints on the atmosphere at the time of the observations. Hemispheric atmospheres with average column density N = 6 - 10 x 10(exp 15)/sq sm and T(gas) = 110 - 500 K fit the data, with preference for temperatures of approximately 200 - 250 K. Better fits are found as the atmosphere is spatially confined, with a limit of approximately 8% hemispheric areal coverage and N approximately equal to 3 x 10(exp 17)/sq cm with colder 110 - 250 K temepratures. A dense (N greater than or equal to 10(exp 16)/sq cm), localized component of SO2 gas, such as that possibly associated with active volcanoes, can generate the observed spectral constrast only when the atmosphere is cold (110 K) and an extended component such as Pele is included. The combination of a dense, localized atmosphere with a tenuous component (N less than 10(exp 16)/sq cm, either patchy or extended) also fits the data. In all cases the best fit models imply a disk-averaged column density larger than exospheric but approximately 10 - 30 times less than the previous upper limit from near-UV observations.
The Galileo Photopolarimeter-Radiometer (PPR), when used in the radiometry mode which is most often used at Io, is a long-wavelength infrared single-aperture photometer. It is sensitive to temperatures from about 60 to several hundred K, and is thus useful for studying the volcanoes and background temperatures on Io. PPR can take raster scan images when it is the primary instrument being used (these data were discussed last year, see Rathbun et al., 2002). It can also take data in ride-along mode in conjunction with another remote sensing instrument (either SSI or NIMS) producing one-dimensional temperature scans. The best data of this type were taken during the close approach flybys during orbits I24, I25, I27, I31, I32, and I33 and include measurements of the volcanoes Pele, Prometheus, Pillan, Zamama, Tvashtar, Daedalus, Amarani, Gish Bar, Isum, Emakong, Tupan, and Tohil.
The session "Io, with a Dash of Titan" contained the following reports:A Deep Lava Channel on Io ; Volcanic Activity at Tvashtar Catena, Io; Characterization of Activity at Loki from Galileo and Ground-based Observations; Active and Passive Lava Resurfacing Processes on Io: A Comparative Study of Loki Patera and Prometheus; Loki Patera as the Surface of a Magma Sea; Lava Lakes on Io: New Perspectives from Modeling; Global Distribution of Active Volcanism on Io as Known at the End of the Galileo Mission Relationships Between Paterae, Mountains, and Hotspots on Io from a Global Database; Lithospheric Recycling on Io: The Role of Delamination; Building Mountains on Io: Implications for Io s Lithosphere ; The Effect of Large Melt Fraction on the Deformation Behavior of Peridotite: Implications for the Rheology of Io s Mantle; Matching Various Observations of Io with DSMC Modeling: Plume, Plume Shadow, Sodium Field Around Pele; and How Does Titan Retain a Finite Orbital Eccentricity?
Tvashtar Catena (63 N, 120 W) is one of the most interesting features on Io. This chain of large paterae (caldera-like depressions) has exhibited highly variable volcanic activity in a series of observations. Tvashtar is the type example of a style of volcanism seen only at high latitudes, with short-lived Pele-type plumes and short-lived by intense thermal events. Evidence for a hot spot at Tvashtar was first detected in an eclipse observation in April 1997 (orbit G7) by the Solid State Imager (SSI) on the Galileo Spacecraft. Tvashtar was originally targeted for observation at higher resolution in the close flyby in November 1999 (I25) because of its interesting large-scale topography. There are relatively few but generally larger paterae at high latitudes on Io. I25 images revealed a 25 km long, 1-2 km high lava curtain via a pattern of saturation and bleeding in the CCD image, which requires very high temperatures.
Two bodies in the Solar System exhibit high-temperature active volcanism: Earth and Io. While there are important differences in the eruptions on Earth and Io, in low-spatial-resolution data (corresponding to the bulk of available and foreseeable data of Io), similar styles of effusive and explosive volcanism yield similar thermal flux densities. For example, a square metre of an active pahoehoe flow on Io looks very similar to a square metre of an active pahoehoe flow on Earth. If, from observed thermal emission as a function of wavelength and change in thermal emission with time, the eruption style of an ionian volcano can be constrained, estimates of volumetric fluxes can be made and compared with terrestrial volcanoes using techniques derived for analysing terrestrial remotely-sensed data. In this way we find that ionian volcanoes fundamentally differ from their terrestrial counterparts only in areal extent, with Io volcanoes covering larger areas, with higher volumetric flux. Io outbursts eruptions have enormous implied volumetric fluxes, and may scale with terrestrial flood basalt eruptions. Even with the low-spatial resolution data available it is possible to sometimes constrain and classify eruption style both on Io and Earth from the integrated thermal emission spectrum. Plotting 2 and 5 m fluxes reveals the evolution of individual eruptions of different styles, as well as the relative intensity of eruptions, allowing comparison to be made from individual eruptions on both planets. Analyses like this can be used for interpretation of low-resolution data until the next mission to the jovian system. For a number of Io volcanoes (including Pele, Prometheus, Amirani, Zamama, Culann, Tohil and Tvashtar) we do have high/moderate resolution imagery to aid determination of eruption mode from analyses based only on low spatial-resolution data.