How Thick is Europas Ice

Shell Crust?
David Galvan
ESS 298
The Outer Solar System
Outline
Our interest in Europas ice shell crust
Evidence for Ice/Water crust
Methods of estimating thickness
Gravity measurements
Induced magnetization
Impact Craters
Surface Topography and Flexure model
Convective Tidal Dissipation
Summary of Estimates
Europa
Second major satellite from Jupiter.
Smallest of the Galileans. (R=1560 km, a little
smaller than Earths Moon)
Spectroscopic studies indicate primarily H20 crust.
(Malin and Pieri, 1986)
Elliptical orbit yields tidal heating (e=0.01)
Surface is ~ 30 My old (based on cratering record)
Cassen & Reynolds (1979) first suggested liquid
water ocean could be sustained by tidal heating
Kivelson et al (2000) showed that Europa has an
induced magnetic field consistent with Jupiters
field inducing a current in a conductive salty ocean
within ~100 km of the surface.

Astrobiological Potential
Life requires:
Energy source
(tidal and radiogenic heating could fuel
volcanism at base of H20 layer.)
Liquid water
(very likely)
Organic chemistry
(a strong possibility, due to observation of
deposited salts on surface, organic
compounds delivered by Jupiter-family
comets, and possible convective action
allowing transport of compounds/nutrients
from surface to sub-surface.

Based on reccomendation of NRC in
2000, which cited U.N. Document No.
6347 January 1967:

Galileo Spacecraft was intentionally
crashed into Jupiter for the expressed
purpose of eliminating the possibility of a
future collision with and forward
contamination of Europa.

Ideas for a Biosphere
Image from Greenberg, American
Scientist, Vol 90, No. 1, Pg. 48
Gravity Measurements
Anderson et al (1997, 1998) used Doppler Shift of Galileos
radio communication carrier to measure coefficients for a
spherical harmonic representation of Europas gravitational
potential to second order.

Obtained an axial moment of inertia measurement of
(C/MR^2) = 0.346. (Compare with 0.4 for uniform sphere,
0.378 for Io)

Suggests a dense core and much less dense surface.

Cant distinguish between solid and liquid H20

For a 2-layer model: (unlikely)
A rock-metal (Fe-enriched) core and about 0.85 Re and an
ice/water crust of 150 - 250km in thickness. Considered
unlikely for such a small body, since radiogenic heating in the
silicate core would lead to differentiation, and formation of
metal core.

For a 3-layer model: (most likely)
A Fe or Fe-S metal core of 0.4 Re, a silicate mantle, and an
ice/water crust of 80 170 km in thickness

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1
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2
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r
R
C
r
R
J
r
GM
V
Where = longitude
from Jupiter-Europa
line, and =latitude.
Induced Magnetization
Based only on observations of
surface properties and gravity
potential, there is no obvious
way to tell if liquid water exists
today, or if it froze thousands of
years ago.
Kivelson et al (2000) discovered
an induced magnetic field at
Europa, generated by the
changing direction of Jupiters
B-field at Europa as the satellite
orbits the planet.

Magnetometer measurements show that
Europas dipole moment changed due to
a change in the relative orientation of
Jupiters magnetic field, as Europa was
in a different location in its orbit.
One model that explains this
is a conducting spherical shell
(probably liquid salt water) at
a depth of at least ~8 km
below the ice crust.
Induced Magnetization (contd.)
Zimmer et al (2000) further
constrained the spherical
conducting shell model through
in-depth analysis of the induced
magnetic field, and variation of
conductivity and depth.

Assumes ocean thickness
between 100 km and 200 km
(from Anderson)

Showed that the magnetic
signature required an ocean
within ~175 km of the surface
of Europa, with a minimum
required conductivity of ~ 72
mS/m and magnetic amplitude
> 0.7.

Craters 1
Central peaks in craters consist of deeply buried
material uplifted immediately after impact.
This means that the central peak craters on
Europa should provide a lower limit of ice shell
thickness, since if the impactor penetrates through
the ice layer, a central peak will not form.
Turtle & Pierazzo (2001) conducted numerical
simulations of vapor and melt production during
crater formation in layers of ice overlying liquid
water and warm, convecting ice.
Used small and large (12 & 21km transient
crater) objects, meant to represent Jupiter-family
comet objects with 26.5 km/s vertical velocities.
Also used a conducting ice layer with Tsurf = 110
K and Tbase= 270 K

Solid=no central peak
Open with solid center = central peak
Nested ring = multiring basins
Craters 1, (contd.)

Found that:
At 9km thickness neither
impactor vaporizes/melts
through the ice crust. So 9km
is not a lower bound.

At 5 km thickness, large
impactor melts through the
crust, but small impactor does
not. So 5 km not a lower
bound.

At 3 km thickness, large and
small impactors mellt through
ice crust to warm ice.
Under a central peak 5km
across and 500 m high, like at
Pwyll Crater, viscosity of ice
would be 10^13 Pa s, yielding
relaxation time of < 1yr.

But, since Pwyll crater does
exist, it must not have relaxed
away, and hence the impactor
that created Pwyll did not
breach the ice crust.

They claim that for 3km of ice
over a liquid water layer, both
large and small impactors
would melt through the crust,
precluding central peak
formation as well.

3km ice
over warm
ice
5 km ice
over liquid
water
9 km ice
over liquid
water
Large (21km)
Transient crater
Similar (21km)
Transient crater
Hence, ice crust must be > 3 km!
Craters, 2
Morphology of impact craters depends on
surface gravity and lithospheric properties.

Since the Galileans and the Moon have
fairly similar values of g, any differences in
crater morphology between the satellites
must be due to lithospheric rheology or
composition differences.

Schenk (2002) notices systematic
differences between Europa craters and
craters on Ganymede and Callisto.

Depth as a function of Diameter (d/D)
undergoes two breaks in trend, called
transitions.
2 transitions occur at different diameters for
Europa than for Ganymede and Callisto.



Europa
Ganymede/
Callisto
Central
Peak
(8 km)
Central
Peak
(18 km)
Central
Pit
(14 km)
Central
Pit
(30 km)
Central
Dome
(121 km)
Anomalous
Dome
(138 km)
Anomalous
Central
Peak
(27 km)
Multiring
Basins
(41 km)
Scalebars are 30 km for G/C
and 10 km for Europa
Transition 1: From simple bowl to
complex (central structure) craters.
Similar on all 3 satellites.
C
G
E
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
This constrains the ice shell to
be at least 19 - 25 km thick.
Transition 2: Anomalous changes in
complex crater dimensions. Due to
temperature dependent rheologic change
with depth.
Europa structures dont support as much
topography, presumably due to weaker ice
at a shallower depth than Ganymede or
Callisto.



Transition 3: Sharp reduction in crater
depths and development of multiring
basins. Consistent with impact into brittle
crust resting on a fluid layer.
Occurs for Europa at D = 30 km, which
implies a crust of 19 25 km. (according
to laboratory transient crater studies)

Tidal Dissipation / Heat Flow
Hussmann & Spohn (2001) used a
steady state model of tidal
dissipation.
Used viscoelastic rheology for
Europas ice, and current values for
orbital elements.
Used the three-layer model
proposed by Anderson et al (1998).
With total water layer of 145 km.

Model has tidal dissipation as a
heat source in the viscoelastic ice,
and radiogenic heat source in the
silicate mantle.
In the stagnant lid of ice crust,
conduction allows surface heat flux.

They vary the melting-point
viscosity of ice while calculating
heat production and heat flow
through the ice crust as a function
of thickness.
Thicknesses not to scale
Tidal Dissipation / Heat Flow
They attempt to balance the heat budget
of Europas H20 layer by plotting tidal
dissipation (heat production rate) and
heat flux through the ice layer
(convecting and conducting cases) for
different melting-point viscosities as a
function of ice thickness.
Ice Crust thickness range: ~30 km, and
surface heat flow = 20mW/m^2
Elastically Supported Topography
Nimmo et al (2003) used the
wavelength of topography near Cilix
crater to estimate elastic thickness Te.

Then used a relation to infer actual
crustal thickness Tc, based on
temperature of surface Ts and base of
crust Tb, and temperature of the base
of the elastic layer Tr.
Cilix crater with topographic
profiles.

Derived from Galileo
stereographic images
Elastically Supported Topography
Leads to crust thickness of 15 - 35 km!
Combined topographic
profile for ice crust with
rigidity D loaded against
by a trapesoidal mass,
with a best fit model of
Te = 6 km
Lowest value of the
combined root mean square
misfit again shows best fit at
Te = 6 km
Conductive ice crust:
Tb = melting temp, tc is crust thickness.
Convective ice crust:
Tb = temp of convecting ice, tc is conducting
lid thickness.
Summary of Estimates
Gravity constraint: total ice/liquid layer
80 - 170 km
Magnetometer constraint:
Electrically conducting liquid water ocean must exist at a depth of
within 200 km, otherwise poorly constrained.
Craters
Minimum ice shell thickness of 19-25 km
Tidal Dissipation
Heat conducting ice crust of ~ 30 km
Topography / Elastic Thickness
Crustal thickness of 15 - 35 km.

TOTAL:
Probably ~ 25 km of ice crust, followed by liquid water
ocean down to a depth of ~150 km
Get your swim trunks!

Further constraints
Could be brought by:
Another mission with:
Ground (Ice) Penetrating
radar
A Europa orbiter for more
precise radio science and
gravity measurements
Seismometers?
JIMO: would launch no earlier
than 2015
References
Anderson, J. D., E. L. Lau, W. L. Sjogren, G. Schubert, and W. B. Moore. Europas differentiated
internal structure: Inferences from two Galileo encounters. Science 276, 12361239. (1997)

Anderson, J. D., E. L. Lau, W. L. Sjogren, G. Schubert, and W. B. Moore. Europas differentiated
internal structure: Inferences from four Galileo encounters. Science 281, 20192022. (1998)

Zimmer, C., K. Khurana, M. G. Kivelson. Subsurface Oceans on Europa and Callisto: Constraints from
Galileo Magnetometer Observations. Icarus 147, 329-347. (2000)

Nimmo, F., B. Giese, and R. T. Pappalardo, Estimates of Europas ice shell thickness from elastically-
supported topography, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(5),1233 (2003)

Schenk, P. M., Thickness constraints on the icy shells of the Galilean satellites from a comparison of
crater shapes, Nature, 417, 41421 (2002).

Greenberg, R. Tides and the biosphere of Europa. Am. Sci. 90, 4855 (2002).

Hussmann, H., T. Spohn, and K. Wieczerkowski, Thermal equilibrium states of Europas ice shell:
Implications for internal ocean thickness and surface heat flow, Icarus, 156, 143151 (2002)

Hoppa, G. V., B. R. Tufts, R. Greenberg, and P. E. Geissler, Formation of cycloidal features on
Europa, Science, 285, 18991902 (1999a)

Pappalardo, R. T., et al., Geological evidence for solid-state convection in Europas ice shell, Nature,
391, 365368 (1998)

Turtle, E. P., and E. Pierazzo, Thickness of a Europan ice shell from impact crater simulations,
Science, 294, 1326 1328 (2001)


Other Estimates
Pappalardo et al (1998) interpret
surface features as diapirs (warm,
buoyant ice masses) yielding crust
thickness of ~3-10 km