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Globally ice-covered oceans have been found on multiple moons in the solarsystem and may also have been a feature of Earth's past. However, relativelylittle is understood about the dynamics of these ice-covered oceans, whichaffect not only the physical environment but also any potential life and itsdetectability. A number of studies have simulated the circulation of icy-worldoceans, but have come to seemingly widely different conclusions. To betterunderstand and narrow down these diverging results, we discuss energeticconstraints for the circulation on ice-covered oceans, focusing in particularon Snowball Earth, Europa, and Enceladus. Energy input that can drive oceancirculation on ice-covered bodies can be associated with heat and salt fluxesat the boundaries as well as ocean tides and librations. We show that heatingfrom the solid core balanced by heat loss through the ice sheet can drive anocean circulation, but the resulting flows would be relatively weak andstrongly affected by rotation. Salt fluxes associated with freezing and meltingat the ice sheet boundary are unlikely to energetically drive a circulation,although they can shape the large-scale circulation when combined withturbulent mixing. Ocean tides and librations may provide an energy source forsuch turbulence, but the magnitude of this energy source remains highlyuncertain for the icy moons, which poses a major obstacle to predicting theocean dynamics of icy worlds and remains as an important topic for futureresearch.

Energetic constraints on ocean circulations of icy ocean worlds