JWST Reveals CO Ice, Concentrated CO 2 Deposits, and Evidence for Carbonates Potentially Sourced from Ariel’s Interior

Abstract

The Uranian moon Ariel exhibits a diversity of geologically young landforms, with a surface composition rich in CO 2 ice. The origin of CO 2 and other species, however, remains uncertain. We report observations of Ariel’s leading and trailing hemispheres, collected with NIRSpec (2.87–5.10 μ m) on the James Webb Space Telescope. These data shed new light on Ariel's spectral properties, revealing a double-lobed CO 2 ice scattering peak centered near 4.20 and 4.25 μ m, with the 4.25 μ m lobe possibly representing the largest CO 2 Fresnel peak yet observed in the solar system. A prominent 4.38 μ m 13 CO 2 ice feature is also present, as is a 4.90 μ m band that results from 12 CO 2 ice. The spectra reveal a 4.67 μ m 12 CO ice band and a broad 4.02 μ m band that might result from carbonate minerals. The data confirm that features associated with CO 2 and CO are notably stronger on Ariel’s trailing hemisphere compared to its leading hemisphere. We compared the detected CO 2 features to synthetic spectra of CO 2 ice and mixtures of CO 2 with CO, H 2 O, and amorphous carbon, finding that CO 2 could be concentrated in deposits thicker than ∼10 mm on Ariel’s trailing hemisphere. Comparison to laboratory data indicates that CO is likely mixed with CO 2 . The evidence for thick CO 2 ice deposits and the possible presence of carbonates on both hemispheres suggests that some carbon oxides could be sourced from Ariel’s interior, with their surface distributions modified by charged particle bombardment, sublimation, and seasonal migration of CO and CO 2 from high to low latitudes.