Constraining Europa's subsolar atmosphere with a joint analysis of HST spectral images and Galileo magnetic field data

Abstract

We constrain Europa's tenuous atmosphere on the subsolar hemisphere by combining two sets of observations: oxygen emissions at 1304 {\AA} and 1356 {\AA} from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spectral images, and Galileo magnetic field measurements from its closest encounter, the E12 flyby. We describe Europa's atmosphere with three neutral gas species: global molecular ($\mathrm{O_2}$) and atomic oxygen (O), and localized water ($\mathrm{H_2O}$) present as a near-equatorial plume and as a stable distribution concentrated around the subsolar point on the moon's trailing hemisphere. Our combined modelling based on the ratio of OI 1356 {\AA} to OI 1304 {\AA} emissions from Roth (2021) and on magnetic field data allows us to derive constraints on the density and location of $\mathrm{O_2}$ and $\mathrm{H_2O}$ in Europa's atmosphere. We demonstrate that $50\%$ of the $\mathrm{O_2}$ and between $50\%$ and $75\%$ of the $\mathrm{H_2O}$ abundances from Roth (2021) are required to jointly explain the HST and Galileo measurements. These values are conditioned on a column density of $\mathrm{O}$ close to the upper limit of $6 \times10^{16}~\mathrm{m}^{-2}$ derived by Roth (2021), and on a strongly confined stable $\mathrm{H_2O}$ atmosphere around the subsolar point. Our analysis yields column densities of $1.2 \times10^{18}~\mathrm{m}^{-2}$ for $\mathrm{O_2}$, and $1.5 \times10^{19}~\mathrm{m}^{-2}$ to $2.2 \times10^{19}~\mathrm{m}^{-2}$ at the subsolar point for $\mathrm{H_2O}$. Both column densities however still lie within the uncertainties of Roth (2021). Our results provide additional evidence for the existence of a stable $\mathrm{H_2O}$ atmosphere at Europa.