Mapping of Ioʹs thermal radiation by the Galileo photopolarimeter–radiometer (PPR) instrument

Between 1999 and 2002, the Galileo spacecraft made 6 close flybys of Io during which many observations of Ioʹs thermal radiation were made with the photopolarimeter–radiometer (PPR). While the NIMS instrument could measure thermal emission from hot spots with T>200 K, PPR was the only Galileo instrument capable of mapping the lower temperatures of older, cooling lava flows, and the passive background. We tabulate all data taken by PPR of Io during these flybys and describe some scientific highlights revealed by the data. The data include almost complete coverage of Io at better than 250 km resolution, with extensive regional coverage at higher resolutions. We found a modest poleward drop in nighttime background temperatures and evidence of thermal inertia variations across the surface. Comparison of high spatial resolution temperature measurements with observed daytime SO2 gas pressures on Io provides evidence for local cold trapping of SO2 frost on scales smaller than the 60 km resolution of the PPR data. We also calculated the power output from several hot spots and estimated total global heat flow to be about 2.0–2.6 W m−2. The low-latitude diurnal temperature variations for the regions between obvious hot spots are well matched by a laterally-inhomogeneous thermal model with less than 1 W m−2 endogenic heat flow.