NEW YORK, BRONX (ORDO News) — Io, one of Jupiter’s captivating moons, has intrigued scientists for years with its incredible volcanic activity. Often referred to as a “volcanic world,” this celestial body is a hotbed of continuous eruptions.
The underlying force driving this volcanic phenomenon is the result of tidal heating, a consequence of the gravitational interaction between Io and its massive parent planet, Jupiter, along with other neighboring moons.
To comprehend the inner workings of this fascinating moon, scientists have employed various modeling techniques to unlock its secrets. Their objective has been to decipher the factors that fuel Io’s relentless volcanic activity.
These models have explored the impact of tidal heating on different layers of Io’s interior, investigating whether this geologic activity originates in the deep mantle or nearer to the surface in the asthenosphere or beneath the global magma ocean.
While these models offered valuable insights, they lacked the empirical evidence to confirm their theories. In the past, the observations of Io were predominantly concentrated at the equator, rendering scientists unable to test the assumptions derived from their models.
However, thanks to data obtained from NASA‘s Juno spacecraft, this knowledge gap has begun to close.
Juno’s scientific mission initially focused on studying the upper layers of Jupiter’s atmosphere using the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM). Subsequently, this remarkable spacecraft has been redirected towards Io, providing scientists with a novel perspective on the moon. By comparing the data collected during Juno’s flybys of Io, researchers have initiated an extensive examination of the moon’s volcanic activity.
They are scrutinizing various aspects of these volcanic eruptions, such as their frequency, whether they occur individually or in clusters, the intensity of the eruptions, and the modifications in the morphology of the resulting lava flows.
The most significant aspect of Juno’s observations is that they extend to the polar regions of Io. Prior to this mission, data collection was primarily limited to equatorial regions. Consequently, this mission marks the first time researchers have acquired a comprehensive understanding of the moon’s volcanic activity.
The recent study, conducted by scientists harnessing Juno’s observations, has produced a groundbreaking revelation. After meticulously studying the behavior of 266 volcanoes on Io’s surface, the researchers have drawn a compelling conclusion. These volcanoes exhibit activity that strongly aligns with the existence of a global magma ocean beneath the moon’s surface.
According to their findings, polar volcanoes on Io individually release less energy compared to their equatorial counterparts. Furthermore, volcanoes located at the moon’s south pole tend to release a relatively lower amount of energy compared to those at the north pole.
It is important to note that the concept of a global magma ocean on Io is not entirely new. In the past, data from the Galileo magnetometer, which had a flyby mission near Io in 2009, hinted at the presence of a subsurface “ocean” positioned roughly 50 kilometers beneath the moon’s surface. However, due to the limited number of close encounters with Io during the Galileo mission, skepticism remained.
Now, with the availability of infrared data spanning the entire surface of Io thanks to Juno, confidence in the existence of a magma ocean beneath Io’s surface has grown significantly. This revelation serves as a testament to the power of space exploration in demystifying celestial bodies and their intriguing geological processes.
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News agencies contributed to this report, edited and published by ORDO News editors.
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