Related papers: Active Cryovolcanism on Europa?
The surface of Europa is geologically young and shows signs of current activity. Studying it from a photometric point of view gives us insight on its physical state. We used a collection of 57 images from Voyager's Imaging Science System…
The surface of Europa experiences a competition between thermally-induced crystallization and radiation-induced amorphization processes, leading to changes of its crystalline structure. The non-linear crystallization and…
Europa has been modified by a variety of geologic processes, exposing internally-derived materials that are heavily irradiated by charged particles trapped in Jupiter's magnetosphere. Prior spectral analysis of H2O ice on Europa relied on…
An image of Lyman-$\alpha$ (Ly$\alpha$) emission from Europa obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) has previously provided the first evidence of localized water vapor (H$_2$O) aurora,…
One of the clearest but unresolved questions for Europa is the thickness of its icy shell. Europa's surface is resplendent with geological features that bear on this question, and ultimately on its interior, geological history, and…
The deep (~100 km) ocean of Europa, Jupiter's moon, covered by a thick icy shell, is one of the most probable places in the solar system to find extraterrestrial life. Yet, its ocean dynamics and its interaction with the ice cover have…
The early prediction and subsequent detection of an O$_2$ atmosphere on Europa, coupled with the discovery that Europa has an ocean under its ice mantle, has made this moon a prime astrobiologic target, soon to be visited by the JUICE and…
Jupiter's icy moons are believed to host subsurface liquid oceans, and among them, Europa stands out as one of the most promising candidates for extraterrestrial life. Yet, the processes driving oceanic flows beneath its ice shell, as well…
In Huybrighs et al., 2020 we investigated energetic proton depletions along Galileo's Europa flyby E26. Based on a particle tracing analysis we proposed that depletions are caused by perturbed electrogmagnetic fields combined with…
H$_2$O$_2$ is part of Europa's water-ice radiolytic cycle and a potential source of oxidants to Europa's subsurface ocean. However, factors controlling the concentration of this critical surface species remain unclear. Though laboratory…
Recent visible-wavelength observations of Europa's surface obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope revealed the presence of an absorption feature near 450 nm that appears spatially correlated with leading-hemisphere chaos terrain. This…
Previous estimates of the annual mean surface temperature of Jupiter's moon, Europa, neglected the effect of the eccentricity of Jupiter's orbit around the Sun, the effect of the emissivity and heat capacity of Europa's ice, the effect of…
Europa's interior is expected to be divided into the metallic core, rocky mantle and hydrosphere based on the moment of inertia factor estimated from gravity field measurements. Specifically, the thickness of the outermost water layer is…
Recent observations from the Hubble Space Telescope show a mid-UV absorption feature localized to leading hemisphere chaos regions on Europa. The same regions were previously found to have a visible absorption at 450 nm that was attributed…
Recent infrared observations at 1.5-4.0 $\mu m$ using large ground-based telescopes have suggested that Cl-bearing salts are likely present on Europa's surface as non-ice materials. The chemical compositions of those Cl-bearing salts are…
In-situ plasma measurements as well as remote mapping of energetic neutral atoms around Jupiter provide indirect evidence that an enhancement of neutral gas is present near the orbit of the moon Europa. Simulations suggest that such a…
Europa's icy surface likely overlies an ocean, but the ice thickness is not known. Here we model the temporal growth of a Europan shell of pure ice subject to varying ice-ocean heat fluxes, ice rheologies, and internal heating rates. Both…
The icy surface of Europa is continuously bombarded by ions and electrons from Jupiter's magnetosphere. The bombardment of the particles dissociates water molecules on the surface of Europa and introduces impurities to the icy surface. Such…
Europa's tenuous atmosphere results from sputtering of the surface. The trace element composition of its atmosphere is therefore related to the composition of Europa's surface. Magnesium salts are often invoked to explain Galileo Near…
A laboratory experiment is suggested in which conditions similar to those in the plume ejecta from Enceladus and, perhaps, Europa are established. Using infrared spectroscopy and polarimetry, the experiment might identify possible…