Many moons orbiting the outer planets of the Solar System likely have oceans trapped beneath thick ice layers. The gravitational pull of other nearby moons and their host planets can slightly stretch their orbits, warming their interiors over long timescales. As the heating rises and falls, their ice shells gradually thicken or thin.
Why Thinning Ice Makes Water Boil
As melting thins the base of the shell, the overlying ice exerts less weight on the ocean, lowering the pressure beneath it.
On the smallest icy moons, that pressure drop can approach the triple point of water—conditions where ice, liquid, and vapor coexist. Even cold water can boil if the pressure decreases sufficiently. A new study in Nature Astronomy shows how this process could actively influence the evolution of these distant moons…
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Source www.theweather.com
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