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SUMMARY:Geometric mixing models as a tool for investigating the ice shell 
 of Europa - Annie Cheng  / Stanford University
DTSTART:20250604T121500Z
DTEND:20250604T124000Z
UID:TALK232933@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:128254
DESCRIPTION:The presence of liquid water is vital to the understanding of 
 a planetary body’s climate\, geological history\, and habitability. The 
 use of ice-penetrating radar as a probe for subsurface hydrology has been 
 demonstrated across Earth and nearby planetary bodies. Radar sounding has 
 uncovered hundreds of subglacial lakes across the Antarctic and Greenland 
 ice sheets\, while a recent mission to Mars (MARSIS) found anomalously bri
 ght reflectances suggesting the presence of a subglacial lake at the South
  Polar Layered Deposits. The recently launched Europa Clipper is similarly
  equipped with an ice-penetrating radar instrument\, REASON\, which will s
 earch for evidence of liquid water on Europa as an indicator of habitabili
 ty.\n\nHowever\, the uniqueness of reflectivity as an identifier for subgl
 acial water bodies has recently been called into question: conductive sedi
 ments and brine inclusions in ice have been proposed as alternate hypothes
 es for the origin of water-like radar signals at Mars and the Devon ice ca
 p. Conventional approaches to studying the effective permittivity of such 
 mixtures assume an isotropic distribution\; here we apply geometric mixing
  models to account for realistic\, anisotropic brine geometries. We demons
 trate how geometric mixing models can provide more exact constraints on th
 e presence and geometric distribution of liquid water in Europa’s ice sh
 ell. We further discuss the detectability of the eutectic zone in the ice 
 shell and its implications for its thermal structure.
LOCATION:The Hoyle Lecture Theatre + Zoom 
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