I agree, cannot understand how tidal forces can accomplish what they say. I might be way off, but I think of a rubberband. When stretched and released you can feel thermal changes at the surface. The physical deformation creating heat should be strongest at the surface.
They also have a vested interest in cryolava and volcanoes as an explanation for the young surface of the moon.
Hard to imagine a volcanic plume which is continuously erupting, variable in location, and only occurs near south pole, by their own admission.
From an article on Europa's Plumes, see how certain they are of everything
2013 has been a rather exciting year for Europa scientists, even without a spacecraft anywhere near the jovian system. We've seen evidence of the salty composition of Europa's oceans; models explaining the deep ocean flow and influence on surface features; evidence of surface phyllosilicates from a cometary or asteroidal impact, and today's exciting news: the Hubble Space Telescope discovery of water vapor plumes from the south pole of this icy moon.
They just seem incapable of creating proper scope and controls for their science. It is ok to work with no experiments to them, no repeatable work is necessary, no evidence beyond light rays and thoughts required. They are even proud of themselves for doing so much with no spacecraft near and no actual data to work with or ability to validate your findings.
BronzeDragon wrote:They would be better off just admitting that they don't know what caused the phenomenon than to pull possible reasons out of thin air.
Exactly, their certainty of assumptions is my only problem with the mainstream. I am open to all ideas, but closing doors on some ideas and claiming certainty to absurdity has completely turned me away and made me skeptical and distrustful of every single word I hear and have been taught regarding science. Treating all ideas with an equal weight I have been led to EU as a more reasonable correction to our understanding than the idea that there is matter which is heavier than everything in the universe put together but it is invisible and spaceless (I could walk right through it without disrupting it, allegedly; as opposed to a blackhole which would rip me apart, but I would actually be eternally stuck in the accretion disk because of the warping of time, well anyway you get the idea)