An ocean of magma sloshes beneath the crust of Jupiter's moon Io, and that is why active volcanoes erupt all over its surface, a new study suggests. The ocean is located 30 to 50 kilometres below ...

The Io–Jupiter system is similar, in scale, to an exoplanet orbiting an M-dwarf, and if volcanic Io doesn't have a magma ocean then perhaps exoplanets on close orbits around M-dwarfs don't either.

Since the late 1970s, scientists have believed that Io could have an ocean of lava hidden beneath its surface, causing much of the Jovian moon’s surface-level volcanic activity.

“Juno’s discovery that tidal forces do not always create global magma oceans does more than prompt us to rethink what we know about Io’s interior,” said Dr. Ryan Park, who is a Juno co-investigator ...

“This is the first time the amount and distribution of heat produced by fluid tides in a subterranean magma ocean on Io has been studied in detail,” said Robert Tyler of the University of ...

NASA's Juno reveals that Jupiter's moon Io likely lacks a subsurface magma ocean, suggesting a solid mantle, reshaping views on tidal heating and other moons.

NASA’s Juno data debunks the idea of Io’s global magma ocean, showing its interior is mostly solid. Scientists now rethink what powers the solar system’s most volcanic moon.

The magma ocean layer on Io appears to be more than 30 miles (50 kilometers) thick, making up at least 10 percent of the moon’s mantle by volume.

Io’s volcanoes are the only known active magma volcanoes in the solar system other than those on Earth. Io produces about 100 times more lava each year than all the volcanoes on Earth. While Earth’s ...

Tidal Heating in a Subsurface Magma Ocean on Io Revisited Journal: Geophysical Research Letters Published: 2024-05-28 DOI: 10.1029/2023gl107869 Affiliations: 1 Authors: 2 Go to article ...

Io’s tidal response precludes a shallow magma ocean. Nature, 2024; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08442-5 ...