Inductive Response of Enceladus' Ice Shell and Potentially Stratified Ocean

Abstract Saturn's moon Enceladus harbors a global subsurface ocean beneath its icy crust. Understanding the structure and composition of this ocean and ice is critical to assessing its potential habitability. Modern electromagnetic (EM) sounding techniques, which measure a celestial body's induced response to external electromagnetic fields, offer a powerful tool for probing internal structures. These techniques are well‐established for Earth and the Moon, modeled for Europa, and here evaluated for Enceladus. By modeling higher frequency range (1 mHz−1 kHz), which sound to shallower depths than lower frequencies, this study shows that induction can provide a constraint on ice composition. The induced response also gives insight into other ice‐shell properties, including potential water layers, as well as different stratified ocean conditions. The findings of this study highlight the potential for future missions to use EM sounding to constrain properties of the ice‐shell, including composition, as well as identifying potential ocean stratification.