Near-infrared monitoring of Io and detection of a violent outburst on 29 August 2013
Abstract
We present initial data from our campaign to monitor Io in the near-infrared, beginning in August 2013, using 3.8-μm adaptive optics imaging at Gemini N and 2–5 μm disk-integrated spectroscopy at NASA's IRTF. Conducted during 2013–2014, these observations are coincident with the ISAS/JAXA EXCEED mission's continuous monitoring of the Io plasma torus and will enable the speculated effects of volcanic outgassing on the torus to be observed directly, in addition to enabling an assessment of the frequency and properties of large-scale outbursts. On 29 August 2013 we detected a powerful eruption (designated 201308C) on Io at 223.5 ± 2.6°W, 29.1 ± 1.8°N. Emitting between 15 and >25 TW, this event is one of the most powerful eruptions ever seen on Io and falls into the rare "outburst" class. This was the third eruption of this type seen on Io in August 2013, an unprecedented occurrence. Also unprecedented was the charting of the decay in thermal emission over the subsequent days and weeks. Modeling of the outburst spectrum places a lower bound of 1200–1300 K on the eruption temperature, and is suggestive of temperatures 1900 K or higher, typically associated with ultramafic lava composition. The eruption is likely a highly energetic, high-volume lava fountain event.
Additional Information
© 2014 Elsevier. Received 27 February 2014, Revised 1 June 2014, Accepted 5 June 2014, Available online 24 June 2014. The data presented in this paper were obtained at the Gemini N Telescope and as a Visiting Astronomer at NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, under programs GN-2013B-DD-3 and 2013B-030 respectively. We thank the Gemini Director, Markus Kissler-Patig, and the Deputy Director and Head of Science, Nancy Levenson, for providing us with DD time to observe Io during about a dozen nights following the initial detection of the eruption. We thank the IRTF Director, Alan Tokunaga, for providing us with DD time to simultaneously observe Io on four of these nights. Gemini Observatory is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the Australian Research Council (Australia), Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brazil) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva (Argentina). The Infrared Telescope Facility is operated by the University of Hawaii under Cooperative Agreement No. NNX-08AE38A with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Science Mission Directorate, Planetary Astronomy Program. Our research was partially supported by the National Science Foundation, NSF Grant AST-1313485 to UC Berkeley, and by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant DGE-1106400. Ashley Davies thanks the NASA Outer Planets Research and Planetary Geology and Geophysics Programs for support. The authors recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Mauna Kea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations of Ionian volcanoes from this Hawaiian volcano.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 94926
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.icarus.2014.06.006
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20190424-103200843
- NNX-08AE38A
- NASA
- AST-1313485
- NSF
- DGE-1106400
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
- Created
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2019-04-24Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field