icy world Archives

Plumes on Enceladus (artist concept)– NASA JPL

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Enceladus, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Saturn, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Cassini Study Found Organics From An Ocean Inside Enceladus

by Keith CowingNovember 19, 2025November 19, 2025

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice out from many locations along the famed ‘tiger stripes’ near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

Bird’s-eye view of Coloe Fossae larger image

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Press Release

What A Martian Ice Age Left Behind

by Keith CowingNovember 14, 2025November 14, 2025

Earth isn’t the only planet to go through ice ages. A handful have hit our home planet in the last 2.5 billion years, with the most recent – which peaked […]

Global distribution of the four major nonwater species in Europa’s surface ice with reaction rate coefficients scaled down by a factor of 10. (a) H2SO4. (b) SO2. (c) H2O2. (d) O2. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Europa, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Jupiter, Status Report

Global Distribution Of The Key Species on the Surface of Europa

by Keith CowingNovember 13, 2025November 13, 2025

The icy surface of Europa is continuously bombarded by ions and electrons from Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

The distribution of planets, main comet and asteroid belts around the Sun, and the equivalent analogues for Beta Pictoris and WD 1145+017. All distances are logarithmic, scaled such that they all have the same equilibrium temperature for a blackbody, meaning that the various sublimation lines are at the same x-axis locations for comparison. Distances from each star are labelled in stellar radii (upper scale) and astronomical units (lower scale). For the Sun, Solar system comets are shown with notable associated distances, belts and planets. For β Pictoris, the planets and main belts are noted. For the white dwarf WD 1145+017 the locations for the six transiting bodies are indicated, with a zoomed-in panel showing their labelled order from Vanderburg et al. (2015). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

An Overview Of Exocomets

by Keith CowingNovember 13, 2025November 13, 2025

We give a general overview of what the scientific community refers to as “exocomets”.

The new study constrained the Enceladus’ global conductive heat flow by studying its seasonal temperature variations at its north pole (yellow). These results, when combined with existing ones of its highly active south polar region (red) provide the first observational constraint of Enceladus’ energy loss budget (

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Enceladus, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Enceladus May Host A Stable Ocean Fit For Life, New Study Finds

by Keith CowingNovember 10, 2025November 10, 2025

A new study led by researchers from Oxford University and Southwest Research Institute and the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona has provided the first evidence of significant heat flow […]

ID: ESP_045614_1330 date: 19 April 2016 altitude: 250 km https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_045614_1330 NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Astrogeology, Desert Worlds, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Status Report

Frosty Alcoves Viewed On Kaiser Crater Dunes On Mars

by Keith CowingNovember 10, 2025November 10, 2025

Kaiser Crater hosts a large field of sand dunes. Every winter the dunes are covered with a layer of seasonal carbon dioxide ice (dry ice). In early spring the ice […]

Comparison of Arctic Ocean FSLE snapshots from the two simulations during March. Brighter regions (high FSLE) indicate more vigorous horizontal stirring. Left panel: present-day conditions; right panel: future conditions representing a quadrupling of atmospheric CO2. Basemap credit: NASA Blue Marble. Figure credit: YI Gyuseok. Credit Institute for Basic Science

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Icy Worlds, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ice Planet Research: More Polar Ocean Turbulence Due To Planetary Warming

by Keith CowingNovember 6, 2025

A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change by an international team of scientists, from the IBS Center for Climate Physics (ICCP) at Pusan National University in South Korea, […]

Setup of our numerical simulations. Panel (A) illustrates an idealized icy moon with a poleward-thinning ice shell. Panel (B) depicts the numerical setup. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

How Does Ice Shell Geometry Shape Ocean Dynamics On Icy Moons?

by Keith CowingNovember 6, 2025November 6, 2025

A poleward-thinning ice shell can drive circulation in the subsurface oceans of icy moons by imposing a meridional temperature gradient–colder at the equator than the pole–through the freezing point suppression […]

Disk temperature, vapor condensation timescale (tcond) and number density of water (nH2O) during the outburst dimming phase of the best-fit model. Here t' = t − tbeg is the time lapse since the bolometric luminosity started to decline. The value of Lbol corresponding to this time is labeled. In the top row, the range of 140-150 K is shaded in white to highlight the snowline region. At t' = 121 yr – the present epoch – the emission surfaces (τmm = 2/3) of ALMA band 5, 6 and 7 and disk photosphere (see Sect. C) are plotted along with the temperature contour. In the middle row, the region where no condensation occurs is plotted in white. In the bottom row, two lines denoting ice(vapor)-to-gas ratio of 10−3 are indicated to highlight the snowline region. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Dust And Water In V883 Ori: Relics Of A Retreating Snowline

by Keith CowingNovember 5, 2025November 5, 2025

V883 Ori is an FU-Orionis-type outburst system characterized by a shoulder at 50-70 au in its ALMA band 6 and 7 intensity profiles.

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release

Ice Planet Research: Antarctic Glacier Retreated Faster Than Any Other In Modern Earth History

by Keith CowingNovember 4, 2025November 6, 2025

A glacier on Antarctica’s Eastern Peninsula experienced the fastest retreat recorded in modern history—in just two months, nearly 50 percent of the glacier disintegrated.