Jackson School of Geosciences - University of Texas at Austin
In spring 2022 we will develop a model for two-phase convection in Europa’s ice shell. Europa is one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter. Tidal heating due to Jupiter’s gravity leads to melting and the persistence of an internal ocean that might harbor life [Nasa video]. This year we will explore the effect of tidal heating on Europa’s ice shell, where it leads to partial melting and the formation of a dense brine. This leads to complex two-phase (Darcy-Stokes) convection where warm buoyant ice rises and dense brine percolates downwards. To date these dynamics are largely unexplored but have the potential to dramatically thin the ice shell and hence our ability to probe the internal ocean.