Seismic signal from waves on Titan's seas

Abstract

Seismology is the main tool for inferring the deep interior structures of Earth and potentially also of other planetary bodies in the solar system. Terrestrial seismology is influenced by the presence of the ocean-generated microseismic signal, which sets a lower limit on the earthquake detection capabilities but also provides a strong energy source to infer the interior structure on scales from local to continental. Titan is the only other place in the solar system with permanent surface liquids and future lander missions there might carry a seismic package. Therefore, the presence of microseisms would be of great benefit for interior studies, but also for detecting storm-generated waves on the lakes remotely. We estimated the strength of microseismic signals on Titan, based on wind speeds predicted from modeled global circulation models interior structure. We find that storms of more than 2 m/s wind speed, would create a signal that is globally observable with a high-quality broadband sensor and observable

Holistic Approach for Studying Planetary Hydrospheres: Gibbs Representation of Ices Thermodynamics, Elasticity, and the Water Phase Diagram to 2,300 MPa

“…Two concept lander missions, a Europa Lander (Hand, ; Pappalardo et al, ) and the recently selected New Frontiers Dragonfly mission to Saturn's moon Titan (Ralph D Lorenz et al, ), include a seismometer package. Because SeaFreeze body wave velocities in ices and fluids can be implemented in seismic models (Panning et al, ; Stähler et al, , ), this framework can be used to refine seismic instrument specifications, and ultimately can be a resource for the analysis of mission data.…”

“…In order to better constrain the structure, evolution, and habitability of the interiors of water‐rich planetary bodies, a new generation of accurate measurements and internally consistent thermodynamic representations of aqueous solutions and ice polymorphs is required. Furthermore, since next‐generation planetary exploration missions are likely to investigate the seismic structure of icy worlds (Vance, Kedar, et al, ; Vance, Panning, et al, ; Panning et al, ; R. D. Lorenz et al, ; Stähler et al, ), data on seismic wave speeds in ices and aqueous solutions as a function of pressure and temperature are also needed.…”

The Effects of Methane Clathrates on the Thermal and Seismic Profile of Titan's Icy Lithosphere

“…However, these waveforms and Mineos models include no added background noise, precisely known location, and timing of the event, and assume Titan is radially consistent with no porosity or lateral heterogeneity. The atmosphere, Titan's lakes, and surface roughness will create seismic background noise and create scattering effects (Stähler et al 2019;Lorenz et al 2021). Topography along the ice-atmosphere and ice-ocean boundary can also alter the relative arrival times of seismic phases.…”

The Detection of Seismicity on Icy Ocean Worlds by Single‐Station and Small‐Aperture Seismometer Arrays

“…On Earth, the oceans are responsible for microseismic noise that can be detected anywhere on Earth (Ardhuin et al., 2001). Correspondingly, seismometers could monitor hydrocarbon lakes on Titan (Stähler et al., 2019). Missions to icy ocean worlds would like‐wise benefit from seismic deployments and bring new insights to the seismicity of these worlds.…”