Volatile transport on inhomogeneous surfaces: I – Analytic expressions, with application to Pluto’s day

Abstract

An analytic expression for the variation in surface and sub-surface temperature is developed for worlds whose surface pressures are nearly constant with latitude and longitude and whose atmospheres are in vapor–pressure equilibrium with the dominant surface volatiles. Such worlds include the current Pluto and Triton, and other volatile-covered Kuiper belt objects during some portion of their heliocentric orbit. The expressions also apply on airless worlds with negligible horizontal heat flow, such as asteroids. Temperature variations in volatile-covered or bare areas as a function of time is derived in terms of three thermal parameters relating to (1) the thermal wave within the substrate, (2) the energy needed to heat an isothermal volatile slab, and (3) the buffering by the latent heat needed to change the atmospheric surface pressure. For Pluto’s current surface pressure (∼17μbar), atmospheric buffering dominates over subsurface effects on diurnal timescales, and should keep the surface pressure over a Pluto day constant to within 0.2%.