EGU26-13860, updated on 14 Mar 2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-13860
EGU General Assembly 2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Oral | Tuesday, 05 May, 17:05–17:15 (CEST)
 
Room 0.94/95
Motional induction in Ganymede's ocean
Simon Cabanes, Thomas Gastine, and Alexandre Fournier
Simon Cabanes et al.
  • Université Paris Cité, Institut de physique du globe de Paris

We investigate the magnetic signature of oceanic circulation in Ganymede's subsurface ocean using kinematic induction modeling. Our approach couples zonal jet flows from rotating thermal convection simulations with magnetic field models incorporating Ganymede's internal dynamo and external contributions from Jupiter.  We solve the induction equation in spherical geometry for deep-ocean (493~km) and shallow-ocean (287~km) scenarios with varying magnetic Reynolds numbers.  Ocean flows generate a predominantly toroidal magnetic field through the omega-effect,
with a weaker poloidal component pervading beyond the conductive ocean layer.  For some, but not all, induction configurations,  analysis  \rv{of the time-averaged Lowes-Mauersberger} spectra  reveals that ocean-induced signals dominate at spherical harmonic degrees $\ell \geq 4$. Deep ocean scenarios with magnetic Reynolds numbers above unity produce surface magnetic signals up to 9~nT. Our results demonstrate that Ganymede's intrinsic magnetic field creates favorable conditions for detecting subsurface ocean dynamics, thus emphasizing the need for low-altitude
orbits for the Juice probe.

How to cite: Cabanes, S., Gastine, T., and Fournier, A.: Motional induction in Ganymede's ocean, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-13860, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-13860, 2026.