![\"Artist\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image_4386-Europa-Ocean.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEuropa\u2019s subsurface ocean has long topped astrobiologists\u2019 wish lists as a place to search for life beyond Earth. But new research led by a Rutgers University scientist suggests reaching that ocean \u2014 or even glimpsing evidence of it near the icy surface \u2014 may be far harder than expected.<\/p>\n
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Artist\u2019s concept of ocean on Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa. Image credit: NASA \/ JPL-Caltech.<\/p>\n
\u201cNumerous icy moons, including Europa, possess subsurface oceans beneath their icy exteriors,\u201d said Rutgers University researcher Lujendra Ojha and colleagues from Johns Hopkins University and Dartmouth College.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiquid water from Europa\u2019s deep ocean has been proposed to rise through dykes and form shallow sills.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch reservoirs could create transient habitable environments and may be directly linked to the formation of various surface features on Europa.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, whether dykes can transport enough water from Europa\u2019s deep ocean to form these shallow reservoirs remains poorly constrained.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the study, the researchers used computer simulations to test whether liquid water from Europa\u2019s deep, global ocean could rise through cracks in the moon\u2019s icy shell and pool in shallower reservoirs \u2014 pockets that future spacecraft could more plausibly detect or sample than the ocean itself, which may sit tens of kilometers underground.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mystery we wanted to solve was whether this journey is actually possible,\u201d Dr. Ojha said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan liquid water rise from Europa\u2019s deep ocean toward the surface without freezing along the way?\u201d<\/p>\n
The scientists found that water rising through fractures in the ice would move turbulently rather than smoothly, swirling and churning against the cold walls of the cracks and losing heat rapidly in the process.<\/p>\n
This rapid cooling can push the water below its normal freezing point while it remains liquid, allowing tiny ice crystals called frazil ice to form and clog the pathway.<\/p>\n
The simulations showed narrow fractures could seal shut within hours, and even wider ones would need to be unrealistically long, or extremely numerous, to ferry enough water upward to explain some of Europa\u2019s surface features.<\/p>\n
The findings challenge comparisons often drawn to volcanic activity on Earth.<\/p>\n
While cryovolcanism \u2014 the movement of water and ice rather than molten rock \u2014 has been likened to terrestrial volcanism, the physics don\u2019t map neatly onto each other, since ice and liquid water behave very differently than lava.<\/p>\n
\u201cIce and liquid water are fundamentally different than lava and the volcanoes that we see here on Earth,\u201d Dr. Ojha said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s some fundamental physics that\u2019s missing here, and so I wanted to explore that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The implications extend beyond theory. If shallow pockets of liquid water do exist beneath Europa\u2019s surface, they may not be directly connected to the deep ocean at all \u2014 instead forming locally as ice melts within the shell.<\/p>\n
That would complicate efforts to use any shallow water as a proxy for the ocean\u2019s chemistry and habitability.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur work suggests that Europa\u2019s ice shell may be a stronger barrier between the ocean and the surface than previously assumed,\u201d Dr. Ojha said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis helps future missions interpret what they find and better understand where to look for signs of habitability.\u201d<\/p>\n