The Subsurface Ocean Dynamics of Europa

Abstract:

The dynamical state of Europa’s ocean is unknown. Vigorous convection is expected to occur in the ocean due to geothermal/tidal heating from the rocky mantle below, and cooling from the frozen ice shell above. Tidal forcing due to Jupiter drives additional oceanic flow. Previous work (e.g., Soderlund, 2019, Hay and Matsuyama, 2019) has simulated either of these phenomena only in the absence of the other.

We present dynamical simulations of Europa’s ocean due to temperature forcing using the MITgcm, and compare our results to existing simulations from Soderlund (2014, 2019). Global tidal forcing due to obliquity and orbital eccentricity, so far neglected in studies focused on the convective dynamics of Europa’s ocean, is also implemented into the MITgcm. We determine how tidal and convective flow fields interact across a suite of parameters relevant to Europa’s ocean and other ocean worlds, bridging the gap between two important aspects of subsurface oceans in the outer solar system.