Not only lava, but water has recently flooded from fissures near Mars’ equator, University of Arizona scientists have discovered. And they’re not talking about a trickle. They’re talking possibly 600 cubic kilometers of water. That’s one and a quarter times as much water as in Lake Erie, four times as much water as in Lake Tahoe, and 65 times as much water as in California’s Salton Sea. “This is a completely different water release mechanism than previously studied on Mars,” said Devon Burr, a UA doctoral candidate in geosciences.
February 12th, 2002
New Mars Pics: Polar Ice, Dust Storm, Impact Crater
New pictures of Mars released this week shed light on the composition of the planet’s polar ice cap, reveal and odd dust storm embedded in a volcano’s crater, and show a strangely off-center impact crater. The pictures were produced by the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, which this month began its second year of an extended mission. One of the newly released pictures has helped researchers better understand how sand and dust mix with water ice on the Red Planet.
February 3rd, 2002
Antarctica Astronomy.com
Scientists began recognizing physical similarities between Antarctica
January 11th, 2002
Formation of recent gullies and debris-flows on Mars by the melting of near-surface ground ice at high obliquity EurekAlert!
The observation of small gullies on Mars was one of the more unexpected discoveries of the Mars Observer Camera (MOC) aboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. The characteristics of these gullies suggested that they were formed by flowing water and soil and rocks transported by these flows. They appeared to be surprisingly young, as if they had formed in the last few million years or even more recently. This was a major surprise because the presence of liquid water seemed impossible on Mars in such a recent past. In their initial analysis, the MGS Camera investigators Mike Mallin and Ken Edgett proposed a scenario involving ground water seepage from a sub-surface liquid water reservoir located a few hundred meters or less below the surface. The existence of such an aquifer would have had major consequences for the future of Mars exploration and the possibility of life. However, the process capable of maintaining such a shallow aquifer at temperatures above the freezing point of water remained unclear. Analysing the MGS Camera data archive, we were able to find example of gullies originating from the top of isolated peaks and from dune crests. In these cases, the involvement of a subsurface aquifer was unlikely.
January 4th, 2002
Ancient Mars: Renderings Show Raging Floods, Vast Oceans
With a host of spacecraft at Mars or being readied to go there over the next two years, scientists are poised to uncover the planet’s liquid secrets. The big question: Was Mars once warm and wet? Simple to pose, but not easy to answer. While many scientists think Mars may once have harbored vast oceans or lakes, there is no proof beyond some presumed ancient shorelines, sediment deposits, and other highly sketchy data or pictures. The question is important because liquid water is a key ingredient for life as we know it. While evidence is rolling in from two spacecraft currently orbiting Mars, an artist has taken some liberties with some of that data to create a series of renderings showing what Mars might once have looked like.
December 7th, 2001
Mars may be changing
Long-term changes, possibly related to a global climatic shift, have been detected on the surface of Mars. High-resolution images of Mars’ south pole show dramatic erosion in its year-round frosty upper layers. Astronomers have also identified a reservoir of carbon dioxide that, if released, could alter the planet completely. The observations “herald a new era in the study of Mars,” says David Paige of the University of California.
December 7th, 2001
Mars takes its cap off Nature
The martian ice caps are shrinking. As they are made mostly of frozen carbon dioxide, this evaporation could trigger an increase in Mars’ own greenhouse effect. Images from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft show that ice ridges and escarpments have retreated over the past two years or so. The orbiting probe has also captured the ice thickening and thinning with the passing seasons.
December 7th, 2001
Ice cap on Mars may be eroding, new study shows
Vast fields of carbon dioxide ice are eroding from the poles of Mars, suggesting that the climate of the Red Planet is warming and the atmosphere is becoming slightly more dense. Experts say that over time such changes could allow water to return to the Martian surface and turn the frigid planet into a “shirt-sleeve environment.”
December 6th, 2001
Mars Ski Report: Snow is Hard, Dense and Disappearing
Mars would make a lousy host for the Winter Olympics. Yes, there’s the lack of air to consider. But more important, Martian snow turns out to be rock hard. Worse, it is melting away at an alarming rate. In fact, Mars may be in the midst of a period of profound climate change, according to a new study that shows dramatic year-to-year losses of snow at the south pole.
December 3rd, 2001
New Research Reveals Mars’ Lumpy Magnetic Field
New research from the University of Colorado at Boulder reveals that areas of the surface of Mars may be protected from the full force of solar radiation by areas of intensely magnetized crust. The startling vision of Mars’ magnetosphere is being explored by David Brain, a doctoral student at CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and his research advisor, Professor Fran Bagenal, using magnetometer data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. Brain’s research has implications for the escape of atmospheric gases into space and climate evolution on the red planet, as well as the radiation environment of these areas — possibly making them safer landing sites for future human expeditions.