ALMA shows volcanic impact on Io's atmosphere

Date:
October 21, 2020
Source:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Summary:
New radio images from ALMA show for the first time the direct
effect of volcanic activity on the atmosphere of Jupiter's moon Io.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== [Illustration of moon Io, | Credit: (c) Luca Oleastri / stock.adobe.com] Illustration of moon Io, with Jupiter in background (stock image).

Credit: (c) Luca Oleastri / stock.adobe.com [Illustration of moon Io,
| Credit: (c) Luca Oleastri / stock.adobe.com] Illustration of moon Io,
with Jupiter in background (stock image).

Credit: (c) Luca Oleastri / stock.adobe.com Close New radio images from
the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) show for the
first time the direct effect of volcanic activity on the atmosphere of Jupiter's moon Io.


==========================================================================
Io is the most volcanically active moon in our solar system. It hosts
more than 400 active volcanoes, spewing out sulfur gases that give Io
its yellow-white- orange-red colors when they freeze out on its surface.

Although it is extremely thin -- about a billion times thinner than
Earth's atmosphere -- Io has an atmosphere that can teach us about Io's volcanic activity and provide us a window into the exotic moon's interior
and what is happening below its colorful crust.

Previous research has shown that Io's atmosphere is dominated by sulfur
dioxide gas, ultimately sourced from volcanic activity. "However, it is
not known which process drives the dynamics in Io's atmosphere," said
Imke de Pater of the University of California, Berkeley. "Is it volcanic activity, or gas that has sublimated (transitioned from solid to gaseous
state) from the icy surface when Io is in sunlight?" To distinguish
between the different processes that give rise to Io's atmosphere,
a team of astronomers used ALMA to make snapshots of the moon when it
passed in and out of Jupiter's shadow (they call this an "eclipse").

"When Io passes into Jupiter's shadow, and is out of direct sunlight,
it is too cold for sulfur dioxide gas, and it condenses onto Io's
surface. During that time we can only see volcanically-sourced sulfur
dioxide. We can therefore see exactly how much of the atmosphere
is impacted by volcanic activity," explained Statia Luszcz-Cook from
Columbia University, New York.



========================================================================== Thanks to ALMA's exquisite resolution and sensitivity, the astronomers
could, for the first time, clearly see the plumes of sulfur dioxide
(SO2) and sulfur monoxide (SO) rise up from the volcanoes. Based on the snapshots, they calculated that active volcanoes directly produce 30-50
percent of Io's atmosphere.

The ALMA images also showed a third gas coming out of volcanoes: potassium chloride (KCl). "We see KCl in volcanic regions where we do not see SO2 or
SO," said Luszcz-Cook. "This is strong evidence that the magma reservoirs
are different under different volcanoes." Io is volcanically active due
to a process called tidal heating. Io orbits Jupiter in an orbit that is
not quite circular and, like our Moon always faces the same side of Earth,
so does the same side of Io always face Jupiter. The gravitational pull
of Jupiter's other moons Europa and Ganymede causes tremendous amounts
of internal friction and heat, giving rise to volcanoes such as Loki
Patera, which spans more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) across. "By
studying Io's atmosphere and volcanic activity we learn more about not
only the volcanoes themselves, but also the tidal heating process and
Io's interior," added Luszcz-Cook.

A big unknown remains the temperature in Io's lower atmosphere. In
future research, the astronomers hope to measure this with ALMA. "To
measure the temperature of Io's atmosphere, we need to obtain a higher resolution in our observations, which requires that we observe the moon
for a longer period of time. We can only do this when Io is in sunlight
since it does not spend much time in eclipse," said de Pater. "During
such an observation, Io will rotate by tens of degrees. We will need
to apply software that helps us make un-smeared images. We have done
this previously with radio images of Jupiter made with ALMA and the
Very Large Array (VLA)." The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Imke de Pater and Statia Luszcz-Cook worked with Patricio Rojo of the Universidad de Chile, Erin Redwing of the University of California,
Berkeley, Katherine de Kleer of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and Arielle Moullet of SOFIA/USRA in California.

This research titled "ALMA Observations of Io Going into and Coming out
of Eclipse" has been accepted for publication in The Planetary Science
Journal.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
National_Radio_Astronomy_Observatory. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Related Multimedia:
* Vimeo_video:_ALMA_Shows_Volcanic_Impact_on_Io's_Atmosphere ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Imke de Pater, Statia Luszcz-Cook, Patricio Rojo, Erin Redwing,
Katherine
de Kleer, Arielle Moullet. ALMA Observations of Io Going into and
Coming out of Eclipse. Planetary Science Journal, 2020 (in press);
[abstract] ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201021163938.htm

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