A Possible Ocean on Europa
Possessing more water than the total amount found on earth, Europa appears to have had a
salty ocean beneath its icy cracked and frozen surface. Galileo images show ice "rafts" the size of
cities that appear to have broken off and drifted apart, a frozen "puddle" smooths over older
cracks, warmer material bubbles up from below to blister the surface, evaporative-type salts are
exposed. A remarkable lack of craters show the surface to be relatively young.Europa has a thin
oxygen atmosphere and an ionosphere.