The interiors of outer solar system ocean-bearing moons are diverse in both governing physical processes and chemical structure. Identifying their governing physical and chemical processes is crucial in light of ongoing and future space missions’ objectives dedicated to the outer solar system, including Europa Clipper and JUICE. The importance of characterizing an ocean worlds’ interior is two-fold: (i) it reveals the physical and chemical processes that explain how this enigmatic class of celestial bodies works, and (ii) understanding these processes holds the key to explaining an ocean world’s evolution over time, its habitable potential, and the geological diversity of ocean worlds we see today. This conference session aims to bring together scientists across geophysical and chemical disciplines, to discuss our understanding of the processes governing ocean worlds, the observable expressions of these processes such that they can be constrained by spacecraft, and the effect these processes have on interior evolution and habitability.

We welcome contributions from scientists of all career stages and across a broad range of disciplines, including oceanography, planetary geology and geophysics, glaciology, and celestial mechanics, from theory, fieldwork, and laboratory experiments. We also encourage contributions that couple these and other aspects of icy world internal dynamics, with a focus on future observations by Europa Clipper and JUICE, and efforts of comparative planetology.