Hot interiors of ice giant planets inferred from electrical conductivity of dense H2O fluid

Abstract

Uranus and Neptune have intrinsic magnetic fields generated via convection in a molten H2O layer, where the field strength is determined by its electrical conductivity (EC) along with convection size and velocity. Previous shock experiments reported that the EC of molten H2O is high enough to generate magnetic fields of these ice giant planets with adiabatic thermal structures. Here we measured the EC of ionic H2O fluid for the first time by static compression experiments up to 45 GPa and 2,750 K. The EC determined is lower by a few orders of magnitude than earlier data by shock compression measurements and not capable of generating a magnetic field with the conventional interior thermal structures. Our results necessitate recently-suggested fewfold hotter interiors of Uranus and Neptune to explain their magnetic fields.