[P-PS05] Mercury Science and Exploration

[PPS05-P07] Tides on Mercury with a Deep Solid-Liquid Mixed Layer

*Shunichi Kamata¹, Kiyoshi Kuramoto¹ (1.Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University)

Keywords:Mercury, Tides, Partially molten

Tidal response provides information of the interior structure of planetary bodies. Recent estimates on the tidal Love number of Mercury are higher than previous estimates, suggesting a soft interior structure. One of intriguing idea is a partially molten layer at the base of the mantle, as is also proposed for the Moon and Mars. We calculate tidal responses of Mercury with a solid-liquid mixed layer using a dynamical poroviscoelastic gravitational theory we recently established. We find that a conventional treatment for partial melting invoking an exponentially reduced viscosity leads to an overestimation of the degree of melting from the tidal Love number k_2. We also present a pattern of tidal deformation. Future analyses using our approach would be beneficial for BepiColombo as well as other planetary exploration missions.