Related papers: Cryomagma ascent on Europa
Images of Europa's surface taken by the Galileo Solid State Imager (SSI) show smooth features measuring a few kilometers, potentially resulting from eruptions of low-viscosity material such as liquid cryomagma. We estimated the volume of…
Evidence for plumes of water on Europa has previously been found using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) using two different observing techniques. Roth et al. (2014) found line emission from the dissociation products of water. Sparks et al.…
Water vapor geysers on Europa have been inferred from observations made by the Galileo spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Keck Observatory. Unlike the water-rich geysers observed on Enceladus, Europa's geysers appear to be an…
Physical processing of Europan surface water ice by thermal relaxation, charged particle bombardment, and possible cryovolcanic activity can alter the percentage of the crystalline form of water ice compared to that of the amorphous form of…
Europa's surface composition and evidence for cryovolcanic activity can provide insight into the properties and composition of the subsurface ocean, allowing the evaluation of its potential habitability. One promising avenue for revealing…
Europa has been spotted to have water outgassing activities by the space and ground-based telescopes as well as reanalysis of the Galileo data (Roth et al. 2014; Sparks et al. 2016, 2017; Paganini et al. 2020; Jia et al. 2018; Arnold et al.…
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…
Much of the geologic activity preserved on Europa's icy surface has been attributed to tidal deformation, mainly due to Europa's eccentric orbit. Although the surface is geologically young (30 - 80 Myr), there is little information as to…
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…
In the absence of direct observations of Europa's particle plumes, deposits left behind during eruptive events would provide the best evidence for recent geological activity, and would serve as indicators of the best places to search for…
Europa's double ridges often display lower albedo and redder color than their surroundings. Their unique topography may cause sublimation-driven darkening due to illumination and self-heating, a process known as thermal segregation. We…
We present best-fit values of porosity -- and the corresponding effective thermal inertiae -- determined from three different depths in Europa's near-subsurface (~1-20 cm). The porosity of the upper ~20 cm of Europa's subsurface varies…
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…
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…
This paper considers the formation of the magma volcano chamber and its eruption due to melting of the matter within the earth crust because of heating caused by plastic deformation occurring during tectonic movement. The expansion of…
The presence of a hydrosphere on Europa raises questions about its habitability, and studies of its volatile inventory can provide insight into its formation process. Different scenarios suggest that Europa's volatiles could be derived from…
The subsurface ocean of Europa is a high priority target in the search for extraterrestrial life, but direct investigations are hindered by the presence of a thick, exterior ice shell. Here we present spectral line and continuum maps of…
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…
Submarine eruptions, accounting for over 80% of Earth's volcanic activity, primarily occur along mid-ocean ridges, where shallow magmatic systems are accessible to high-resolution imaging. Yet, their remoteness often leaves them undetected.…
The icy moon Europa is a primary target for the study of ocean worlds. Its subsurface ocean is expected to be subject to asymmetries on global scales (tidal deformation) and local scales (chaos regions, fractures). Here, we investigate the…