The scientist was excited by the new discovery. Jupiter’s moon could have a habitable part

During a radar observation study of the Greenland ice sheet, a team of scientists discovered a similar double M-shaped ridge, which is a kind of mini-version of the object in Europe. Study with detailed results was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Alien life candidate

Aeronautical instruments help scientists study the Earth’s polar regions and monitor changes in ice sheets that could affect global sea levels. They are also looking for lakes of surface melting water.

“We were working on something completely different about climate change and its impact on Greenland when we saw these little double ridges. We were able to see it gradually change from “unformed” to “formed,” said Dustin Schroeder, an associate professor of geophysics at Stanford University’s Faculty of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, said in a statement.

A new study investigates morphological ice features on Jupiter’s Moon Europa and makes links to similar features on the Greenland Ice Sheet, in order to explain their generation. @RadioGlaciology @StanfordEarth @StanfordEng https://t.co/qqtLvbjhDL pic.twitter.com/iPfU75GPOt

— Nature Communications (@NatureComms) April 20, 2022

Operation IceBridge, a NASA space agency mission that collected surface height and ice sheet radar data from 2015 to 2017, revealed that the Greenland double ridge formed after the ice broke around the water, which re-frozen inside the ice sheet. The pressure of the water pocket caused the distinct peaks to rise.

This has led scientists to question whether the same would be possible in Europe, where there could be water pockets under an ice shell. This would create a potentially habitable environment on the otherwise inhospitable mantle of the moon.

“In Greenland, this double ridge has formed where water from surface lakes and streams often flows out and freezes again,” said another study author, Riley Culberg, a doctoral student in electrical engineering at Stanford.

One way similarly shallow water pockets could form in Europe could be to push water through the cracks from the subsurface ocean into the ice shell. This would suggest that there may be a reasonable exchange inside the shell, scientists think.

Keeping NASA’s robotic explorers healthy takes smart software, especially in remote and harsh space environments. A #NASAScience team is developing new technology that may enable robotic exploration of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and other distant worlds: https://t.co/qV5rOAJcsg pic.twitter.com/oTBqQe0zkS

— Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) April 19, 2022

Europa seems to be a dynamic place where streams of water rise through cracks in an ice sheet tens of kilometers thick. And this ice shell could be a place where the subsurface ocean and nutrients mix. “Because it’s closer to the surface, where interesting chemicals from space, other moons, and Io volcanoes, the next moon orbiting Jupiter, get there, there’s a chance life has a chance if there are pockets of water in the shell,” they said. scientists.

Other research missions

It was the first time experts could observe something like this happening on Earth and actually observe the subsurface processes that led to the formation of ridges. “The mechanism we presented in this study would be almost too bold and complicated to design without seeing it happen in Greenland,” Schroeder said.

The extensive data the team has gathered about the Greenland ice sheet may allow them to use it in the future as an analogy for the dynamic processes taking place in Europe. Temperature, chemistry and pressure are different in Europe than in Greenland, so the team wants to explore how these water pockets work on the moon.

Europa is the target of two upcoming missions – JUICE under the auspices of the European Space Agency and Europa Clipper NASA, which will use ice-penetrating radar, similar to when scientists explored Greenland, and will take subsurface images of Europe’s ice mantle.

Is Jupiter’s moon Europa venting water plumes? @NASA’s Europa Clipper will embark on a journey to find out. Slated to launch in 2024, it’ll study the moon’s deep interior and surface to see whether Europa’s ingredients might harbor a viable home for life. https://t.co/1ioBUDGYum pic.twitter.com/1Ev7pTeBFg

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) December 1, 2021

“Jupiter’s moon stands out as one of the best candidates to host extraterrestrial life in our solar system, thanks to the subsurface ocean’s liquid water and what scientists know about its chemical composition,” Culberg said.

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