ARTICLE NO. IS985977 Terrestrial Sea Ice Morphology: Considerations for Europa

• Main Authors: Ronald Greeley, Robert Sullivan, Max D. Coon, Paul E. Geissler, All Tufts, James W. Head Iii
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1997
• Subjects: Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.488.4598; http://www.planetary.brown.edu/pdfs/2036.pdf

strength of ice sheets. Salts are also suspected in the europan ice and could lead to similar differences, enhancing the creationThe Galileo mission has returned the first high-resolution of topographic relief from density contrasts and the formation(21 m/pixel) images of the surface of Europa. These images of fractures from brittle failure of the ice. Differences in thereveal structures with morphologies reminiscent of those seen environments between Europa and terrestrial sea ice in termson terrestrial sea ice. Although it is premature to make one-of parameters such as temperature, gravity, time, and ice com-to-one analogies between sea ice and Europa’s surface, a review positions suggest caution in drawing direct analogies. Futureof the types of surface features commonly formed on Earth work by the planetary and sea-ice communities must includeand of various sea-ice processes can provide insight into the understanding the terrestrial processes sufficiently for extrapo-complex geology of Europa. For example, deformation of terres-lation to Europa. 1998 Academic Presstrial sea ice results from winds, tides, and currents and from Key Words: Europa; geological processes (Europa); surfacesthermally induced stresses; the resulting features include frac-(satellites); planetary ices.tures ranging in width from millimeters to kilometers, pressure ridges, shear ridges, and rafted ice. Potential agents of deforma-tion on Europa are more likely to be limited to tidal flexing 1. INTRODUCTIONand possibly convection, but could produce similar features