Oxygen production from dissociation of Europa's water-ice surface.

ABSTRACT: Jupiter's moon Europa has a predominantly water-ice surface that is modified by exposure to its space environment. Charged particles break molecular bonds in surface ice, thus dissociating the water to ultimately produce H₂ and O₂, which provides a potential oxygenation mechanism for Europa's subsurface ocean. These species are understood to form Europa's primary atmospheric constituents. Although remote observations provide important global constraints on Europa's atmosphere, the molecular O₂ abundance has been inferred from atomic O emissions. Europa's atmospheric composition had never been directly sampled and model-derived oxygen production estimates ranged over several orders of magnitude. Here, we report direct observations of H₂⁺

SUBMITTER: Szalay JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11111413 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature