Energy Distributions for Desorption of Sodium and Potassium from Ice: The Na/K Ratio at Europa

The sputtering and decomposition of the surface of Europa by fast ions and electrons lead to the production of an atomosphere containing sodium and potassium atoms. Here time-of-flight energy distributions are measured for Na and K sputtered from a vapor-deposited ice by 200-eV electrons. These data are then used in a Monte Carlo simulation for alkalis in Europaʹs atmosphere. Na/K ratios versus distance from Europa are calculated and compared to the recent observations in the range 6 to 18 Europan radii from the surface. Normalizing to the observations, the Na/K ratio for the loss rates is ∼27 and the ratio for the average surface source rates is ∼20. These ratios are very different from the Na/K ratio at Io and are larger than the Na/K ratio suggested for Europaʹs putative subsurface ocean, consistent with fractionation on freezing and upwelling of ocean material.