Life needs oxygen, and oxygen is continuously created on Europa's frozen surface. Can that oxygen be transported to the warm, subsurface ocean?
Jupiter’s moon Europa is a prime candidate in the search for life. The frozen moon has a subsurface ocean, and evidence indicates it’s warm, salty, and rich in life-enabling chemistry.
Oxygen is at the heart of one of those questions. It might be the final piece in understanding Europa’s habitability. These briny pools exist in places in the shell where some ice melts due to convection currents in the ocean. Europa’s famous and photogenicChaos terrain covers about 25% of Europa’s frozen surface. Chaos terrain is where ridges, cracks, faults, and plains are jumbled together. There’s no clear understanding of the exact causes of chaos terrain, though it’s likely related to uneven subsurface heating and melting. Some of Europa’s most iconic images highlight this strangely beautiful feature.
The researchers showed how oxygen is transported through the ice in their simulation. The oxygen-laden brine moves to the subsurface ocean in a porosity wave. A porosity wave transports the brine through the ice by momentarily widening the pores in the ice before quickly sealing up again. Over thousands of years, these porosity waves transport the oxygen-rich brine to the ocean.
The study says that about 86% of the oxygen taken up at Europa’s surface makes it to the ocean. Over the moon’s history, that percentage could have shifted widely. But the highest estimate produced by the researchers’ model creates an oxygen-rich ocean very similar to Earth’s.
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'Chaos' regions of Jupiter's icy moon Europa may increase chance for lifeElizabeth Howell, Ph.D., is a contributing writer for Space.com since 2012. As a proud Trekkie and Canadian, she tackles topics like spaceflight, diversity, science fiction, astronomy and gaming to help others explore the universe. Elizabeth's on-site reporting includes two human spaceflight launches from Kazakhstan, and embedded reporting from a simulated Mars mission in Utah. She holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, and a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University. Her latest book, NASA Leadership Moments, is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday.
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