There may be pools of salty water on Jupiter's moon, Europa, according to researchers who believe the sites could be promising spots to search for signs of life beyond Earth.
There is evidence for the shallow pools, not far beneath the frozen surface of the Jovian moon, when scientists noticed that giant parallel ridges stretching for hundreds of miles on Europa were strikingly similar to surface features discovered on the Greenland ice sheet.
If the extensive ice ridges that criss-crossed the body formed in a similar way to those in Greenland, then there could be pockets of water on the body that can help circulate chemicals needed for life from the icy shell down to the salty ocean that lies far beneath.
The liquid water near the ice shell is a promising place to imagine life having a shot.
Earth's moon is larger at 2,000 miles wide. It became a leading contender in the search for life elsewhere when observations from ground-based telescopes and passing space probes found evidence of a deep ocean 10 to 15 miles beneath its icy surface.
Even though it is one-quarter the width of the Earth, the ocean is thought to hold twice as much water as all of Earth's oceans combined.
Images of the cold body have thrown up longstanding mysteries. The surface has double ridges that cover it like scars. The valleys are half a mile wide and can reach up to 300 metres high.
The double ridges were mentioned in an academic presentation that sparked the insight of the team. The scientists noticed a double ridge in the north-west of the island. They used radar and other observations to understand how the ridges formed.
There is a double ridge feature on the ice sheet that looks similar to the one on Jupiter's moon Europa, according to Riley Culberg, a PhD candidate.
The double ice ridges of Greenland are about 50 times smaller than those on Europa, and were formed when shallow pools of water froze and fractured the surface time and time again. Culberg said it was that kind of pressure that pushes up the ridges.
From Venus to the outer solar system is the search for life.
The scientists theorize that liquid water is forced up towards the surface from the underlying ocean through the ice shell.
They say that this movement of water could help circulate chemicals necessary for life down into the ocean.
Michael Manga, a professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the research, said it was plausible.
I wonder why the features are so small on Earth. It is not clear why the valleys between them are narrower than the ridges.
The double ridges that formed when it performed detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter's moon are expected to shed light on how they formed.
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