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S Musotto, W Moore (UCLA), F Varadi (IGPP), G Schubert (UCLA)
Io's extremely large heat flow (1 to 2 W m-2) is the result of tidal heating in its interior. In the past, this heating has been calculated assuming that Io is synchronously rotating on a Keplerian orbit. But Io's orbit is significantly non-Keplerian (due to Jupiter's oblateness), and Io's rotation may include significant departures (librations) from the synchronous state, which introduce additional terms to the tidal potential. To quantify the effect of these additional tidal modes on the dissipation within Io, the dynamical evolution of Io has been studied by coupling the orbital dynamics to rotation and tidal deformation. The coupled orbital-rotational evolution model is used to compute Io's heat flow, utilizing both a simplified (Q parameterization) model of dissipation, and a complete solution of the tidal deformation in a layered, viscoelastic body. We will compare the Keplerian, synchronous case with the unrestricted case to determine the sensitivity of the inferred internal structure of Io to the dynamical assumptions.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #4
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.