Well, it would probably be pretty stinky -- although one thing made
painfully
clear at the Ames "Europa Focus Group" I attended is that we have no really
good data whatsoever about what kind of materials may be mixed with the
water. The only conclusion that could be reached is that there are a lot of
sulfur compounds -- sulfuric acid, elemental sulfur and/or sulfate salts.
Bruce Moomaw
I'm still not convinced about the stinkiness of the ocean, Bruce, although
you're usually right about most things! ;-) Elemental sulfur is insoluble
in water and so would likely be found only in thick sediments on the ocean
floor. Sulfates and sulfuric acid are definitely odorless. The stinkiness
factor is very high for many sulfur compounds, but most of those are
organic. I doubt if the organic content of the ocean would be high enough
to give anything more than a faint odor - probably not even that. Maybe I'm
forgetting a class of sulfur compounds that *would* be present, though.
Dan
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