Planetary Lunch Seminar – Daniel Abdulah (Harvard)

Title: Simulations of Europa’s Internal Ocean Tides.

Abstract: Ocean worlds possess fascinating and mysterious subsurface environments shaped by tidal forces. Most studies of the tidal response of Europa, a key measurement of the Europa Clipper mission, assume an ocean of constant density. A stable density gradient, however, may result in the generation of internal waves when excited by tidal forces, altering Europa’s tidal response. Using the MIT Global Circulation Model, we run three-dimensional simulations of the ocean subject to eccentricity tidal-forcing. We examine how different oceanic density structures affect the generation of internal tides, examining the velocity, kinetic energy, and surface displacement of the ocean. We find broadly that a more steeply stratified ocean can harbor more prominent internal waves, yielding significant and sometimes abrupt changes in the tidal phase lag of the ocean, causing energy dissipation to vary by several orders of magnitude.

About this Series: The MIT Planetary Lunch Seminar [PLS] is a weekly seminar series organized within the EAPS department. Colloquia topics span the range of research interests of the department’s planetary sciences research program. The seminars take place on Tuesdays from 12:30–1:30 pm, unless otherwise noted (term-time only). Speakers include members of the MIT community and visitors. Talks are intended to appeal to graduate students, postdocs, research scientists, and faculty with a background in planetary science. Contact: planetary-org@mit.edu.