Discovering sub-micron ice particles across Dione' surface

Water ice is the most abundant component of Saturn’s mid-sized moons. However, these moons show an albedo asymmetry - their leading sides are bright while their trailing side exhibits dark terrains. Such differences arise from two surface alteration processes: (i) the bombardment of charged particles from the interplanetary medium and driven by Saturn’s magnetosphere on the trailing side, and (ii) the impact of E-ring water ice particles on the satellites’ leading side. As a result, the trailing hemisphere appears to be darker than the leading side. This effect is particularly evident on Dione's surface. A consequence of these surface alteration processes is the formation or the implantation of sub-micron sized ice particles.The presence of such particles influences and modifies the surfaces' spectrum because of Rayleigh scattering by the particles. In the near infrared range of the spectrum, the main sub-micron ice grains spectral indicators are: (i) asymmetry and (ii) long ward minimum shift of the absorption band at 2.02 μm (iii) a decrease in the ratio between the band depths at 1.50 and 2.02 μm (iv) a decrease in the height of the spectral peak at 2.6 μm (v) the suppression of the Fresnel reflection peak at 3.1 μm and (vi) the decrease of the reflection peak at 5 μm relative to those at 3.6 μm.We present results from our ongoing work mapping the variation of sub-micron ice grains spectral indicators across Dione' surface using Cassini-VIMS cubes acquired in the IR range (0.8-5.1 μm). To characterize the global variations of spectral indicators across Dione' surface, we divided it into a 1°x1° grid and then averaged the band depths and peak values inside each square cell.We will investigate if there exist a correspondence with water ice abundance variations by producing water ice' absorption band depths at 1.25, 1.52 and 2.02 μm, and with surface morphology by comparing the results with ISS color maps in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared ranges. Finally, we will compare the results with those obtained for Enceladus, Tethys, and Mimas