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In this paper, we look at space weathering processes on the icy surface of Jupiters moon Europa. The heavy energetic ions of the Jovian plasma (H+, O+, S+, C+) can erode the surface of Europa via ion sputtering (IS), ejecting up to 1000 H2O molecules per ion. UV Photons impinging the Europas surface can also result in neutral atom release via photon-stimulated desorption (PSD) and chemical change (photolysis). In this work, we study the efficiency of the IS and PSD processes for ejecting water molecules, simulating the resulting neutral H2O density. We also estimate the contribution to the total neutral atom release by the Ion Backscattering (IBS) process. Moreover, we estimate the possibility of detecting the sputtered high energy atoms, in order to distinguish the action of the IS process from other surface release mechanisms. Our main results are: 1) The most significant sputtered-particle flux and the largest contribution to the neutral H2O-density come from the incident S+ ions; 2) The H2O density produced via PSD is lower than that due to sputtering by ~1.5 orders of magnitude; 3) In the energy range below 1 keV, the IBS can be considered negligible for the production of neutrals, whereas in the higher energy range it becomes the dominant neutral emission mechanism; 4) the total sputtering rate for Europa is 2.0cdot 1027 H2O s-1; 5) the fraction of escaping H2O via IS is 22% of the total sputtered population, while the escape fraction for H2O produced by PSD is 30% of the total PSD population. Since the PSD exosphere is lower than the IS one, the major agent for Europas surface erosion is IS on both the non-illuminated and illuminated side. Lastly, the exospheric neutral density, estimated from the Galileo electron density measurements appears to be higher than that calculated for H2O alone; this favours the scenario of the presence of O2 produced by radiolysis and photolysis.
Physical processing of Europan surface water ice by thermal relaxation, charged particle bombardment, and possible cryovolcanic activity can alter the percentage of the crystalline form of water ice compared to that of the amorphous form of water ice
Much of the geologic activity preserved on Europas icy surface has been attributed to tidal deformation, mainly due to Europas eccentric orbit. Although the surface is geologically young (30 - 80 Myr), there is little information as to whether tidall
We performed numerical simulations of impact crater formation on Europa to infer the thickness and structure of its ice shell. The simulations were performed using iSALE to test both the conductive ice shell over ocean and the conductive lid over war
We report results of a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) campaign with the Advanced Camera for Surveys to observe Europa at eastern elongation, i.e. Europas leading side, on 2008 June 29. With five consecutive HST orbits, we constrain Europas atmospheric
In this paper we demonstrate a technique of utilizing magnetically trapped neutral Rb-87 atoms to measure the magnitude and direction of stray electric fields emanating from surface contaminants. We apply an alternating external electric field that a