P035-0002
Mapping Sulfur on Europa’s Surface in the Ultraviolet using Hubble Space Telescope Observations

Thursday, 10 December 2020
Poster
Tracy M Becker1, Samantha K. Trumbo2, Philippa Mary Molyneux1, Kurt D Retherford3, Amanda R Hendrix4, Lorenz Roth5, Melissa A McGrath6 and Joshua Kammer1, (1)Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, United States, (2)California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (3)Southwest Research Inst, San Antonio, TX, United States, (4)Planetary Science Institute Tucson, Tucson, AZ, United States, (5)KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Space and Plasma Physics, School of Electrical Engineering, Stockholm, Sweden, (6)NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, United States
Abstract:
Ultraviolet observations of Europa from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) reveal a strong spectral absorption feature centered near 280 nm that is primarily concentrated on Europa’s trailing hemisphere and interpreted to reflect the presence of SO2.

The 280-nm absorption feature was previously observed in disk-integrated observations of Europa by the International Ultraviolet Explorer and HST, and at discrete, disk-resolved locations on the surface by the Galileo Ultraviolet Spectrometer. We use the new HST observations to produce the first ever spatially-resolved near-global map of Europa that reveals the distribution and strength of the SO2 feature across its surface. Its distribution is consistent with the implantation and subsequent radiolytic processing of exogenous sulfur ions from the Io plasma torus, but could also reflect preferential radiolysis of existing sulfate salts.

We will discuss how our analysis of the amount and distribution of SO2 on Europa constrains the surface processing of the icy satellite and its implication for the Europa Clipper and JUICE missions.

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