Overview
- The study detects the north pole’s surface to be about 7 K warmer than expected, indicating endogenic heat escaping from the interior.
- Measured conductive flux is 46 ± 4 milliwatts per square meter, equating to roughly 35 gigawatts across the moon outside the active south pole.
- Total global heat loss is constrained to about 54 gigawatts, matching tidal heating predictions of roughly 50–55 gigawatts and implying long-term energy balance.
- The findings overturn the view that heat loss is confined to the south pole and suggest an ice shell about 20–23 km thick at the north pole and 25–28 km on average.
- Researchers derived the result by comparing Cassini CIRS infrared data from deep winter 2005 to summer 2015, with the peer‑reviewed paper published Nov. 7 in Science Advances by teams from Oxford, SwRI and PSI.