Active Cryovolcanism on Europa?
Open accessAbstract
Evidence for plumes of water on Europa has previously been found using the Hubble Space Telescope using two different observing techniques. Roth et al. found line emission from the dissociation products of water. Sparks et al. found evidence for off-limb continuum absorption as Europa transited Jupiter. Here, we present a new transit observation of Europa that shows a second event at the same location as a previous plume candidate from Sparks et al., raising the possibility of a consistently active source of erupting material on Europa. This conclusion is bolstered by comparison with a nighttime thermal image from the Galileo Photopolarimeter-Radiometer that shows a thermal anomaly at the same location, within the uncertainties. The anomaly has the highest observed brightness temperature on the Europa nightside. If heat flow from a subsurface liquid water reservoir causes the thermal anomaly, its depth is ≈1.8–2 km, under simple modeling assumptions, consistent with scenarios in which a liquid water reservoir has formed within a thick ice shell. Models that favor thin regions within the ice shell that connect directly to the ocean, however, cannot be excluded, nor modifications to surface thermal inertia by subsurface activity. Alternatively, vapor deposition surrounding an active vent could increase the thermal inertia of the surface and cause the thermal anomaly. This candidate plume region may offer a promising location for an initial characterization of Europa’s internal water and ice and for seeking evidence of Europa’s habitability.
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Europa's irradiated, oxidized surface products are placed into contact with its liquid inner ocean through processes operating on geologically short timescales such as diapirism, cryovolcanism, fracturing, and reservoir collapse.
“Studies of Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, have suggested that products from its irradiated, oxidized surface are placed into contact with its liquid inner ocean through processes operating on geologically short timescales such as diapirism, cryovolcanism, fracturing, and reservoir collapse (Brown and Hand 2013;Sparks et al. 2017).”
From Environmental Adaptation from the Origin of Life to the Last Universal Common Ancestor (2018) · cites this paper as Sparks et al. 2017
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- Authors
- Sparks, W. B., Schmidt, B. E., McGrath, M. A., Hand, K. P., Spencer, J. R., Cracraft, M., & Deustua, S. E.
- Affiliations
- Space Telescope Science Institute (US)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
- Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (US)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- Southwest Research Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Sparks, W. B.
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2017-04-13
- Volume
- 839
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- L18
- ISSN
- 2041-8205 (ISSN-L)
- 2041-8213
- OpenAlex
- W2606983829
- Cited by
- 184
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 12.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NAS 526555)
- California Institute of Technology
- Space Telescope Science Institute (NAS5- 26555, 26555)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Keywords
- Europa, cryovolcanism, water plumes, thermal anomalies, ice shell, brightness temperature, thermal inertia, vapor deposition, habitability
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