The Heat Flux through the Ice Shell on Europa, Constraints from Measurements in Terrestrial Conditions

Heat transport across the ice shell of Europa controls the thermal evolution of its interior. Such process involves energy sources that drive ice resurfacing (1). More importantly, heat flux through the ice shell controls the thickness of the ice (2), that is poorly constrained between 1 km to 30+ km (3). Thin ice would allow ocean water to be affected by radiation from space. Thick ice would limit the heat ocean sources available to the rock-ocean interface at the ocean's bottom due to tidal dissipation and potential radioactive sources. The heat flux structures control the development of geometrical configurations on the Europa's surface like double ridges, ice diapirs, chaos regions because the rheology of ice is temperature dependent (4).Analysis of temperature record of growing ice cover over a pond and water below revealed the importance of solar radiation during the ice growth. If there is no snow cover, a sufficient amount of solar radiation can penetrate through the ice and heat the water below. Due to temperature gradient, there is a heat flux from the water to the ice (Qwi), which may reduce ice growth at the bottom. Details and variables that constrain the heat flux through the ice can be utilized to estimate the ice thickness. We show with this analog analysis provides the forth step towards measurement strategy on the surface of Europa. We identify three types of thermal profiles (5) and fourth with combination of all three mechanisms.References:(1) Barr, A. C., A. P. Showman, 2009, Heat transfer in Europa's icy shell, University of Arizona Press, p. 405-430.(2) Ruiz, J., J. A. Alvarez-Gómez, R. Tejero, and N. Sánchez, 2007, Heat flow and thickness of a convective ice shell on Europa for grain size-dependent rheologies: Icarus, v. 190, p. 145-154.(3) Billings, S. E., S. A. Kattenhorn, 2005, The great thickness debate: Ice shell thickness models for Europa and comparisons with estimates based on flexure at ridges: Icarus, v. 177, p. 397-412.(4) Quick, L. C., B. D. Marsh, 2016, Heat transfer of ascending cryomagma on Europa: Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v. 319, p. 66-77.(5) Mitri, G., A. P. Showman, 2005, Convective-conductive transitions and sensitivity of a convecting ice shell to perturbations in heat flux and tidal-heating rate: Implications for Europa: Icarus, v. 177, p. 447-460.