![\"Motional](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Motional-Induction-In-Ganymede.png\")
<\/p>\n\n Status Report <\/p>\n
\n astro-ph.EP <\/p>\n
\n March 14, 2026 <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Numerical ocean-induction setup for Ganymede in a deep-ocean scenario with Re m = 1.77. Ganymede\u2019s internal structure is depicted, featuring the ice crust, the deep ocean with its simulated zonal flow, the internal ice layer, the silicate mantle, and the metallic core. Yellow tubes visualize the magnetic field lines. The bottom-right panel shows how magnetic field lines are sheared by the zonal (east\u2013west) jet flow in the ocean (blue\/red denote westward\/eastward jets, respectively), thereby reflecting the secondary magnetic field induced by such dynamics. \u2014 astro-ph.EP <\/p>\n
We investigate the magnetic signature of oceanic circulation in Ganymede\u2019s subsurface ocean using kinematic induction modeling. Our approach couples zonal jet flows from rotating thermal convection simulations with magnetic field models incorporating Ganymede\u2019s internal dynamo and external contributions from Jupiter.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
For some, but not all, induction configurations, analysis of the time-averaged Lowes-Mauersberger spectra reveals that ocean-induced signals dominate at spherical harmonic degrees \u2113\u22654. Deep ocean scenarios with magnetic Reynolds numbers above unity produce surface magnetic signals up to 9 nT.<\/p>\n
Our results demonstrate that Ganymede\u2019s intrinsic magnetic field creates favorable conditions for detecting subsurface ocean dynamics, thus emphasizing the need for low-altitude orbits for the Juice probe.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Motional-Induction-In-Ganymede1.png\")
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Schematic spherically symmetric structure of Ganymede considered in this study. The mantle and ice layers are assumed to be electrically insulating. \u2014 astro-ph.EP<\/p>\n
Simon Cabanes, Thomas Gastine, Alexandre Fournier<\/p>\n
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Geophysics (physics.geo-ph) Astrobiology,<\/p>\n Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager\/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na\u2019Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he\/him) \ud83d\udd96\ud83c\udffb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Status Report astro-ph.EP March 14, 2026 Numerical ocean-induction setup for Ganymede in a deep-ocean scenario with Re m…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[145160,30031,21746,145163,61,60,3626,35968,158030,82],"class_list":["post-346457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-astro-ph-ep","tag-ganymede","tag-geology","tag-icy-world","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jupiter","tag-magnetic-field","tag-oceanworld","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Cite as: arXiv:2603.06305 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2603.06305v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
https:\/\/doi.org\/10.48550\/arXiv.2603.06305<\/a>
Focus to learn more
Submission history
From: Simon Cabanes
[v1] Fri, 6 Mar 2026 14:09:47 UTC (7,954 KB)
https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2603.06305<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/keith_cowing.jpg\")
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