Lava lakes found on Jupiter’s volcanic moon by NASA’s Juno

Observations of the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io from Nasa’s Juno mission have shown a ring of hot, infrared emission surrounding a cooler crust at the center of the lava lakes associated with the volcanic eruption.

In terms of their thermal signature, they have been found to be bright white, with a temperature between 450 and 1,350 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the equivalent of 232 and 732 degrees Celsius. On the other hand, the rest of the lake, which is located in the far south of the lake, has a temperature of approximately minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 43 degrees Celsius.

Alessandro Mura, a Juno co-investigator from the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome, said in a statement that the findings now give us a clearer idea of what forms of volcanism on Io is most commonly observed: immense lakes of lava where magma flows up and down.

“This occurs when the crust of the lava breaks against the walls of the lake, forming the characteristic lava rings we see in Hawaiian lava lakes,” he explained.

In particular, the prime hypothesis is based on the idea that magma undergoes upwelling at these lava lakes as it flows into the surface. There is a rising and falling of the lakes as a result of this. It is also possible to see lava on the edge of the lake when the crust touches the lake’s walls which can reach a height of hundreds of metres, where the lava is exposed alongside the lake’s edge.

However, there is also a secondary hypothesis that can also be considered. The formation of magma in the middle of a lake is implied by the fact that magma wells up within the lake. During this process, the crust is pushed outward, sinking along the edge of the lake as it does so. In this way, the lava is exposed again, and a ring of lava is formed as a result of this.

Timenews1 provided that news.