Researchers believe that snowfalls in Europe go from the bottom up.
Jupiter's moon Europa may consist of 'underwater snow' – scientists” />
Scientists have said that the icy crust of Jupiter's moon Europa may consist of pure underwater snow that rises to the surface rather than falling down. Researchers believe this crust is partly formed by permafrost, a fluffy accumulation of ice crystals that similarly accumulates under Earth's ice sheets, Live Science reports.
Such ice contains some of the salt found in the ice that grows on the ice shelf. . Scientists believe this may indicate that Europa's icy crust may be less salty than previously thought.
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For astrobiologists, Europa is one of the most intriguing celestial bodies in the Solar System. According to NASA, Jupiter's satellite covers an ocean 60-150 kilometers deep, covered by an ice crust 15 to 25 kilometers thick. Europa is a quarter of the size of the Earth, but its ocean can hold twice as much water as all of Earth's oceans. This makes this moon of Jupiter an interesting object for the search for extraterrestrial life.
NASA's new orbiter, the Europa Clipper, scheduled for launch in October 2024, will fly past the icy moon to see if it might be habitable. Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin are engaged in the development of a radar device that should penetrate through the ice layer of Europa.
As part of the effort to create the radar, scientists sought to understand how the icy shield of Jupiter's moon might be arranged. In search of clues, they turned to Earth, studying the two main ways ice forms under the Antarctic ice sheets. One form, frozen ice, grows from the surface of an ice shelf. The other, rock ice, forms in cold seawater and drifts upward in flakes like inverted snow, eventually becoming trapped under the ice sheet.
Europe, like Antarctica, probably has a low temperature gradient . This means that the temperature changes little with depth. In such conditions, stony ice or frost is often found, especially in places where the ice thins out in cracks or faults.
If this form of ice is also common on Europa, it could be of great importance for the formation of the moon's icy crust . While frozen ice can contain 10% of the salt of the surrounding seawater, frost is much purer, containing only 0.1% of the salt of the seawater from which it formed.
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Such low-salt ice can affect the structure and strength of Europa's ice crust, as well as how well the Clipper radar can penetrate the ice.
