Tiger stripes (Enceladus)

The tiger stripes of Enceladus consist of four sub-parallel, linear depressions in the south polar region of the Saturnian moon.

Images from the ISS camera onboard Cassini revealed the 4 tiger stripes to be a series of sub-parallel, linear depressions flanked on each side by low ridges.

[2] However, their correlation with internal heat and a large, water vapor plume suggests that tiger stripes might be the result of fissures in Enceladus' lithosphere.

The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instrument also detected trapped carbon dioxide ice and simple organics within the tiger stripes.

Crystalline water ice gradually loses its crystal structure after being cooled and subjected to the Saturnian magnetospheric environment.

[4] Higher resolution observations revealed that the hottest material near Enceladus' south pole is located within the tiger stripe fractures.

Data from the ISS, Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS), Cosmic Dust Analyser (CDA) and CIRS instruments show that a plume of water vapor and ice, methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen emanates from a series of jets located within the tiger stripes.

[8] Alternatively, Kieffer et al. (2006) suggest that Enceladus' geysers originate from clathrate hydrates, where carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen are released when exposed to the vacuum of space by the fractures.

Cassini view of Enceladus's south pole. The tiger stripes, from lower left to upper right, are the Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, Alexandria and Camphor sulci.
Composite map of the southern hemisphere of Enceladus (2007)
Enceladus - South Pole - Geyser basin (August 10, 2014). [ 8 ]
Enceladus - South Pole - Geysers spray water from many locations along the "tiger stripes".
Eruptions on Enceladus may seem to be "discrete" jets, but may be "curtain" eruptions instead
( video animation )