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Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons, long has fascinated scientists because of what may lie beneath its frozen shell: a global ocean of liquid water.
That hidden ocean has made Europa one of the most compelling places in the solar system to study the conditions that might support life. But new research led by Rutgers scientist Lujendra Ojha suggests one of the most promising shortcuts to Europa’s ocean may be far more complicated than previously thought.
In a study published in Nature Astronomy, Ojha and colleagues used computer simulations to test whether liquid water from Europa’s deep ocean could rise through cracks in the ice and collect in shallow reservoirs closer to the surface. Such reservoirs, if they exist, could be easier for future missions to detect or sample than the ocean buried far below.
“The mystery we wanted to solve was whether this journey is actually possible,” said Ojha, an associate professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences. “Can liquid water rise from Europa’s deep ocean toward the surface without freezing along the way?”
