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Planetary science

Tidal flows in satellite oceans

An Erratum to this article was published on 23 December 2008

Sub-surface oceans probably exist on several large satellites of Jupiter and Saturn. An analysis of Europa's tides suggests that some of the Rossby waves are resonantly enhanced by the obliquity, producing sufficient heat and flow to keep the ocean liquid.

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Figure 1: Flow below the ice.

NASA

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Bills, B. Tidal flows in satellite oceans. Nature Geosci 2, 13–14 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo396

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