The movement of nitrogen ice is possible in the case that the thickness of the ice blocks is equal to 400-1000 km.
The New Horizons mission have suspected the presence on Pluto geological changes that have occurred over the last several hundred years, and evaluated the thickness of the nitrogen ice on the plateau of the Satellite.
Devoted to the study of a Preprint published on the website arXiv.org.
Layered the movement of nitrogen ice at the frozen methane surface of Pluto may be the case if the thickness of the ice blocks is equal to 400-1000 meters. One recent such events discovered on the Northern edge of the plateau of the Satellite, where, according to scientists several hundred years ago, the ice slab covered a methane surface. On the plateau East of the Satellite peculiarities, due to the migration of nitrogen ice from the mountain region tombo.
To conduct the study, researchers created a model that describes the movement of nitrogen glaciers on the plateau of the Satellite. Planetary scientists have used recent data taken from the NASA New Horizons.
Station New Horizons July 14, 2015, at about 14 kilometers per second close to Pluto on the minimum distance of 12.5 thousand kilometers. At this time the peak of research.
The mission should complete its work in mid-2020. the Main objective of the New Horizons program is to study the dwarf planet Pluto and its satellite Charon. Scientific equipment installed at the plant, we collected data on the atmospheric composition and structure of Pluto’s surface and its interaction with Charon.
Previously, scientists explained the mechanism of formation of nitric geometry blocks on the plateau of the Satellite — irregular polygons. The most realistic scenario for their formation called thermal compression and convection (by the mechanism of Rayleigh — Benard) in the layer of nitrogen ice.
