Spectral Decomposition Reveals Surface Processes on Europa

TL;DR

This study uses spectral analysis of JWST data to distinguish surface processes on Europa, revealing CO2 enrichment patterns linked to geological and space weathering activities, with implications for habitability.

Contribution

Introduces a novel spectral factorization method applied to JWST data to isolate and map surface components, enhancing understanding of Europa's surface chemistry and processes.

Findings

CO2 enrichment extends beyond Tara Regio

Enriched areas co-occur with ice-texture anomalies

Results suggest surface volatiles are influenced by microphysics and emplacement

Abstract

Competing processes shape Europa's surface: geological activity replenishes material through resurfacing, while bombardment by charged particles alters surface chemical composition. Each process leaves distinct spectral signatures. We present a novel data-driven analysis of JWST NIRSpec-IFU observations of Europa's leading hemisphere across three observing geometries, targeting nine spectral bands sensitive to water ice, radiolytic products, and volatiles. Through spectral factorization, we isolate the dominant components of spectral variability and reconstruct their spatial distributions. We find that CO2 enrichment extends beyond Tara Regio, and covers multiple chaos units in a lens-like pattern. These CO2-enriched areas co-occur with anomalous ice-texture signatures. Together, these findings suggest that enrichment in volatiles on Europa may reflect retention-favorable near-surface microphysics as well as emplacement, refining how they are interpreted in the context of surface--interior exchange. This has implications for interpreting the sources and supply rates of extant carbon-bearing species and, ultimately, for assessing Europa's habitability.