loading page

Detection Sensitivity for the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) to Potential Europa Plumes
  • +3
  • Jamie McCullough,
  • Bruce Macintosh,
  • Max Millar-Blanchaer,
  • Laura Schaefer,
  • Dustin Schroeder,
  • Robert De Rosa
Jamie McCullough
Stanford

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Bruce Macintosh
Stanford
Author Profile
Max Millar-Blanchaer
JPL
Author Profile
Laura Schaefer
Stanford
Author Profile
Dustin Schroeder
Stanford
Author Profile
Robert De Rosa
Stanford
Author Profile

Abstract

There has been possible evidence from ground based telescopes for plumes of water emanating from Europa’s ice shell. Because of their potential connection to the subsurface ocean these plumes are of significant interest as targets for the in-situ instruments on upcoming NASA and ESA missions to the Jovian system. Their potential similarity to tidally-modulated plumes observed at Enceladus have led to speculation that the occurrence of these plumes could be predicted accurately enough to plan in-situ sampling. However, the plumes could be the result of stochastic processes releasing near surface water from the ice shell and may not occur during the missions at all. Better observational constraints on plume distribution, predictability, and character would provide critical information for planning operations and measurements on the upcoming missions to Europa. The aim of this study is to demonstrate capability of the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) for this task, modeling the detectability of Enceladus-like plumes on the surface of Europa using polarimetry. The polarized signal from an Encleadus sized plume is approximated by Mie scattering from micron-scale ice particulates at 1.5 - 1.8 µm. Ground-based observations with a nearly automated facility such as GPI could allow daily searches for plumes and enable dramatically more informed mission planning, increasing the potential for habitability characterization and even potentially life detection.