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Extreme Volcanism on Jupiter’s Moon Io

  • Chapter
Environmental Effects on Volcanic Eruptions

Abstract

Io (Figure 7.1) is the innermost of the four large Galilean satellites of Jupiter discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Io’s mean radius (1821 km) and bulk density (3.53 g cm−3) are comparable to those of the Moon. However, long before the Voyager spacecraft encounters, it was apparent from Earth-based observations that Io is very different from the Moon: It has an unusual spectral reflectance and anomalous thermal properties, and it is surrounded by immense clouds of ions and neutral atoms. Following discovery of a thermal anomaly (Witteborn et al., 1979) and the prediction of intense tidal heating (Peale et al., 1979), the Voyager spacecraft revealed a world covered by volcanoes, many of them active (Smith et al., 1979a).

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Authors
  1. Alfred S. McEwen
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  2. Rosaly Lopes-Gautier
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  3. Laszlo Keszthelyi
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  4. Susan W. Kieffer
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA

    James R. Zimbelman

  2. Department of Geology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA

    Tracy K. P. Gregg

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McEwen, A.S., Lopes-Gautier, R., Keszthelyi, L., Kieffer, S.W. (2000). Extreme Volcanism on Jupiter’s Moon Io. In: Zimbelman, J.R., Gregg, T.K.P. (eds) Environmental Effects on Volcanic Eruptions. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4151-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4151-6_7

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