NASA's Juno spacecraft, originally sent to study Jupiter, has been extended to observe Io, the solar system's most volcanically active moon. Juno's JIRAM instrument is providing unprecedented data on Io's volcanic activity and how tidal heating drives it.
Juno captured this image of Io during Perijove 57. Data from Juno 's JIRAM instrument is helping researchers understand how tidal heating shapes the moon's volcanic activity . Image Credit: NASA / SWRI / MSSS / Jason Perry © cc nc sa
“It’s easier to study tidal heating on a volcanic world rather than peering through a kilometers-thick ice shell that’s keeping the heat covered up.”Io is one of the four Galilean moons. The other three, Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa, are all suspected of having liquid oceans under frozen layers of surface ice. If these oceans truly exist, they could potentially support life. Jupiter’s tidal heating provides the heat to keep those oceans warm.
“I’m trying to match the pattern of volcanoes on Io and the heat flow that they’re producing with the heat flow we expected from theoretical models,” said Pettine. Io has no ocean, so the heat melts rock, creating a likely magma ocean inside the moon. That magma works its way up through the surface, erupting as volcanoes and lava flows. The gases from the magma colour the surface of the moon in reds, yellows, and browns.
This figure’s perspective shows the sub-Jovian, north-polar view of Io in the left column and the anti-Jovian, south-polar view of Io in the right column. The topmost row shows the coverage map achieved for JIRAM during this study. The second row is a global map of volcanic flux. The hot spot in the north polar region is clear. Image Credit: Pettine et al. 2024.
The researchers also created a complete global map of heat flux produced by volcanic hot spots. “Viewing this flux on both a linear and a logarithmic scale better illustrates individual volcanic behaviour and global heat flow variations, particularly the lowest-flux regions,” the authors write.
Juno Io Jupiter Volcanic Activity Tidal Heating
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