The Volcanoes of Io

Three months ago, grandiosely, I announced that I was going to survey volcanism across the solar system, and I began the journey on Earth. Then I failed to follow up. For once, my procrastination has worked to my benefit, because Ashley Davies, Laszlo Kesthelyi, and Andrew Harris have just published a paper titled "The thermal signature of volcanic eruptions on Io and Earth" that, apart from being about a really useful new way to look at Io volcanism, also provides the background material that I was going to have to research and write myself. I always enjoy talks at conferences given by Ashley or Laszlo, because they're unusually good at achieving clarity in their presentations, and the same is true of their writing.

Before I get ahead of myself, though, a little reminder of what I'm talking about. Io is the innermost of Jupiter's four large moons, really an odd duck among the moons of the outer solar system because it totally lacks surface ice. Oh, and because, as far as anyone knows, its volcanoes are in a constant state of eruption. Here's a view from Galileo, just one of a bazillion nice color composites available from Jason Perry's website [above].…

See Planetary Society Weblog for links to further info.