 | This is a user sandbox of Edi2123802. You can use it for testing or practicing edits. This is not the sandbox where you should draft your assigned article for a dashboard.wikiedu.org course. To find the right sandbox for your assignment, visit your Dashboard course page and follow the Sandbox Draft link for your assigned article in the My Articles section. |
Loki Patera is the largest volcanic depression on Jupiter's moon Io, 202 kilometres (126 mi) in diameter. It contains an active lava lake, with an episodically overturning crust. The level of activity seen is similar to a superfast spreading mid-ocean ridge on Earth. Temperature measurements of thermal emission at Loki Patera taken by Voyager 1's Infrared Interferometer Spectrometer and Radiometer (IRIS) instrument were consistent with sulfur volcanism.
Io's lava lakes such as Loki Patera are depressions partially filled with molten lava covered by a thin solidified crust. These lava lakes are directly connected to a magma reservoir below. Observations of thermal emission at several of Io's lava lakes reveal glowing molten rock along Loki Patera's margin, caused by the lake's crust breaking up along the edge of the patera. Over time, because the solidified lava is denser than the still-molten magma below, this crust can founder, triggering an increase in thermal emission at the volcano. At sites such as Loki Patera, this can occur episodically. During an overturning episode, Loki can emit up to ten times more heat than when its crust is stable. During an eruption, a wave of foundering crust spreads out across the patera at the rate of about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) per day, until the crust of the lake has been resurfaced. Another eruption would begin once the new crust has cooled and thickened enough for it to no longer be buoyant over the molten lava.
On March 8th, 2015 a rare orbital alignment occurred between IO and Europa, two of Jupiter's moons, that allowed researchers to separate heat being emitted. They were able to accomplish this because Europa's surface being coated in water ice which reflects small amounts of sunlight at infrared wavelengths. Scientists were able to determine there being two waves of resurfacing lava which explains the change in brightness on Loki Patera every 400-600 days. The images that helped researchers and scientist determine this discover were captured by the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory in southeast Arizona. The observation also revealed that there is a difference in the magma supply of the two halves of Loki.[1]
Loki Patera is located at 13°N 308.8°WCoordinates: 13°N 308.8°W. It is named after the Norse god Loki. Amaterasu Patera is located to the north and Manua Patera to the northwest.
- ^ University of California, Berkley (10 May 2017). "Waves of lava seen in Jupiter's moon Io's largest volcanic crater". Retrieved 11 October 2017.