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Observational data suggest that the ice shell on Enceladus is thicker at theequator than at the pole, indicating an equator-to-pole ice flow. If the iceshell is in an equilibrium state, the mass transport of the ice flow must bebalanced by the freezing and melting of the ice shell, which in turn ismodulated by the ocean heat transport. Here we use a numerical ocean model tostudy the ice-ocean interaction and ocean circulation on Enceladus withdifferent salinities. We find that salinity fundamentally determines the oceanstratification. A stratified layer forms in the low salinity ocean, affectingthe ocean circulation and heat transport. However, in the absence of tidalheating in the ice shell, the ocean heat transport is found to always betowards lower latitudes, resulting in freezing at the poles, which cannotmaintain the ice shell geometry against the equator-to-pole ice flow. Thesimulation results suggest that either the ice shell on Enceladus is not in anequilibrium state, or tidal dissipation in the ice shell is important inmaintaining the ice shell geometry. The simulations also suggest that apositive feedback between cross-equatorial ocean heat transport and ice meltingresults in spontaneous symmetry breaking between the two hemispheres. Thisfeedback may play a role in the observed interhemispheric asymmetry in the iceshell.

The effect of salinity on ocean circulation and ice-ocean interaction on Enceladus