Scientists investigate how heat rises through Europa’s ocean

Europa, certainly one of Jupiter’s many moons, could also be able to supporting life as a result of its icy floor doubtless obscures a deep, salty ocean. Europa’s ocean can be in direct contact with its mantle rocks, and interactions between rock, water, and ice might present vitality to maintain life.

D. G. Lemasquerier and colleagues examined the way in which heating from Europa’s mantle might drive ocean circulation beneath the icy crust. The researchers modeled Europa’s ocean to additional perceive how heating patterns from deep contained in the moon might have an effect on the thickness of its icy floor. The examine is published within the journal AGU Advances.

Mantle warmth is one driver of ocean circulation on Europa, and this heating is available in two kinds. Radiogenic heating is attributable to the decay of radioactive supplies within the mantle, and tidal heating is attributable to the deformation Europa undergoes because it orbits Jupiter and experiences its sturdy gravitational pull. Tidal heating is uneven; it is larger at Europa’s poles and decrease on the factors of the moon which might be reverse and going through Jupiter.

Utilizing simplified idealized modeling that didn’t think about salinity and ocean-ice feedbacks, researchers examined how warmth would possibly switch from Europa’s seafloor, by way of its ocean, and as much as its icy shell. They discovered that if tidal heating is dominant within the mantle, the latitudinal warmth flux variations from the ground could be transferred up by way of the ocean and stay primarily the identical on the ice-ocean boundary, affecting ice thickness and leaving it thinnest on the poles.

Nonetheless, if radiogenic heating is the dominant kind of heating within the mantle, then the ocean would have a comparatively small impression on ice thickness. The 2024 Europa Clipper mission might assist verify these mannequin findings and supply new insights into the hyperlink between Europa’s mantle heating, ocean circulation, and the thickness of its icy crust.

This story is republished courtesy of Eos, hosted by the American Geophysical Union. Learn the unique story here.