Researchers believe the ice shells on Jupiter’s moon, Europa, contains underwater snow beneath ice shelves. Europa is as big as Earth’s moon with a rocky surface. Researchers in NASA claim that Europa consists of an icy crust along with an internal ocean system that likely qualifies to support life.
Scientists, to understand how Europa’s ice shells are thick from the inside, examined two kinds of underwater snow that are found on Earth to justify the ice shells comprehended on Europa.
Space.com states that congelation ice grows directly below the ice shelf and the frazil ice forms in supercooled water columns and moves upward, thus, being accumulated at the bottom of ice shelves.
Due to this process, researchers realized that the amount of salt from the water that turns to ice only remains partially in the ice formed.
“When we’re investigating Europa, we’re concerned in the salinity and composition of the ocean, since it’s one of the factors that will dictate its future habitability or even the type of life that just might live there”, stated the author of the study, Natalie Wolfenbarger.
The study would aid to prepare for NASA’s Europa Clipper mission. The spacecraft will be looking for life existing in the oceans of Europa by using a radar to examine the ice caps. The Europa Clipper mission is set to be carried out in 2024 and may land on Europa in 2030. Scientists are looking forward to discover life existing in the frozen world beneath Europa’s ice shells.
