We are happy to announce the fourth Ocean Worlds meeting scheduled for May 21–22, 2019 at Universities Space Research Association Headquarters at 7178 Columbia Gateway Dr., Columbia, Maryland.
Purpose and Scope:
Many of the icy moons and dwarf planets in the outer solar system are known or hypothesized to host subterranean liquid-water oceans. These worlds may also have liquid trapped within their icy lithospheres. In the larger bodies, fluids are also suspected within and between lithospheric layers of high-pressure ice. The geodynamics of these ice lithospheres may be influenced by the freezing and melting of water and associated impurities (e.g., salts and organic compounds), and interactions at ocean-ice interfaces may influence circulation in the oceans on local or global scales.
In this, the fourth meeting in the Ocean Worlds series, we focus on the ice-water interactions occurring within ocean worlds beyond Earth, from a multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary perspective. Considering them in detail should lead to new hypotheses testable by future spacecraft missions. As with past Ocean Worlds meetings, a primary motivation is to engender a cross-fertilization of ideas and expertise by soliciting contributions from both the Ocean Sciences and Planetary Sciences communities. Consequently, contributions are invited that address any aspects of this broad ice-water interaction theme, across the Planetary and Ocean Science fields, including geophysics, hydrogeology, geochemistry, and microbiology.
Abstract deadline: February 15, 2019.
Early registration deadline: April 22, 2019.
Standard registration deadline: May 10, 2019.