NASA scientists have been researching underwater volcano Lō'ihi near Hawaii.

Lō'ihi's eruptions resemble oceanic springs on Saturn and Jupiter's moons.

The volcano may provide clues about alien life in the solar system.

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35 kilometers south of the Hawaiian coast, there's an active underwater volcano called Lō'ihi — and scientists at NASA have been looking into whether it could provide clues about extraterrestrial life on Saturn and Jupiter's moons.

Saturn's moon, Enceladus, and Jupiter's moon, Europa, are considered the likeliest candidates for harboring extraterrestrial life in our solar system, namely as both are home to hidden oceans below thick layers of ice.

These oceans contain hydrothermal springs.

This is part of the reason NASA has been looking at underwater volcanoes like Lō'ihi: the volcano produces similar types of eruptions to the springs on the moons.

A NASA model shows what the hot springs on Saturn's moon Enceladus could look like. NASA-GSFC/SVS, NASA/JPL-Caltech/Southwest Research Institute

Alien life from hot springs

Normally it's photosynthesis, the process by which plants obtain energy from the sun, which is considered the first step in creating life.

However, hydrothermal sources also have the potential to begin life: this is where chemosynthesis comes in.

The underwater springs contain molecular hydrogen.

One possible explanation for the presence of this gas is the hydrothermal reaction that takes place between the hot rock and the ocean's water, as the ice of the moons contains hydrogen, CO2 and organic material.

This is what an underwater volcanic eruption looks like, here the volcano West Mata, south of Samoa. NOAA

Because of the similarities between the Hawaiian volcano and the moons' springs, scientists have been investigating the volcano's activities.

Previously, research was focused more heavily on deeper underwater volcanoes that lie on the edges of tectonic plates.

Lō'ihi is only 975 meters below sea level and isn't on a tectonic plate, but has a special advantage for this very reason.

The magma it releases into the water is not as hot as that of other volcanoes located on tectonic plates; it's closer in temperature to that of the springs on Jupiter's and Saturn's respective moons.

The research project, Systematic Underwater Biogeochemical Science and Exploration Analog (SUBSEA), has been collecting data to be compared with previous studies.