Evidence for a subsurface ocean on Europa

Michael H. Carr (), Michael J. S. Belton, Clark R. Chapman, Merton E. Davies, Paul Geissler, Richard Greenberg, Alfred S. McEwen, Bruce R. Tufts, Ronald Greeley, Robert Sullivan, James W. Head, Robert T. Pappalardo, Kenneth P. Klaasen, Torrence V. Johnson, James Kaufman, David Senske, Jeffrey Moore, Gerhard Neukum, Gerald Schubert, Joseph A. Burns, Peter Thomas and Joseph Veverka
Additional contact information
Michael H. Carr: US Geological Survey
Michael J. S. Belton: National Optical Astronomy Observatory
Clark R. Chapman: Southwest Research Institute
Merton E. Davies: Rand Corporation
Paul Geissler: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona
Richard Greenberg: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona
Alfred S. McEwen: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona
Bruce R. Tufts: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona
Ronald Greeley: Arizona State University
Robert Sullivan: Cornell University
James W. Head: Brown University
Robert T. Pappalardo: Brown University
Kenneth P. Klaasen: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Torrence V. Johnson: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
James Kaufman: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
David Senske: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jeffrey Moore: NASA/Ames Research Center
Gerhard Neukum: DLR-Institut für Planetenerkundung
Gerald Schubert: University of California
Joseph A. Burns: Cornell University
Peter Thomas: Cornell University
Joseph Veverka: Cornell University

Nature, 1998, vol. 391, issue 6665, 363-365

Abstract: Abstract Ground-based spectroscopy of Jupiter's moon Europa, combined with gravity data, suggests that the satellite has an icy crust roughly 150 km thick and a rocky interior1,2,3,4. In addition, images obtained by the Voyager spacecraft revealed that Europa's surface is crossed by numerous intersecting ridges and dark bands (called lineae) and is sparsely cratered, indicating that the terrain is probably significantly younger than that of Ganymede and Callisto5. It has been suggested that Europa's thin outer ice shell might be separated from the moon's silicate interior by a liquid water layer, delayed or prevented from freezing by tidal heating6,7,8,9,10; in this model, the lineae could be explained by repetitive tidal deformation of the outer ice shell11,12,13. However, observational confirmation of a subsurface ocean was largely frustrated by the low resolution (>2 km per pixel) of the Voyager images14. Here we present high-resolution (54 m per pixel) Galileo spacecraft images of Europa, in which we find evidence for mobile ‘icebergs’. The detailed morphology of the terrain strongly supports the presence of liquid water at shallow depths below the surface, either today or at some time in the past. Moreover, lower-resolution observations of much larger regions suggest that the phenomena reported here are widespread.

Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1038/34857

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