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Mars Emerging from Ice Age, Data Suggest
Space.com ^ | 08 December 2003 | SPACE.com

Posted on 12/08/2003 2:07:51 PM PST by Yo-Yo

Scientists have suspected in recent years that Mars might be undergoing some sort of global warming. New data points to the possibility it is emerging from an ice age.

NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter has been surveying the planet for nearly a full Martian year now, and it has spotted seasonal changes like the advance and retreat of polar ice. It's also gathering data of a possible longer trend.

There appears to be too much frozen water at low-latitude regions -- away from the frigid poles -- given the current climate of Mars. The situation is not in equilibrium, said William Feldman of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

"One explanation could be that Mars is just coming out of an ice age," Feldman said. "In some low-latitude areas, the ice has already dissipated. In others, that process is slower and hasn't reached an equilibrium yet. Those areas are like the patches of snow you sometimes see persisting in protected spots long after the last snowfall of the winter."

Frozen water makes up as much as 10 percent of the top 3 feet (1 meter) of surface material in some regions close to the equator. Dust deposits may be covering and insulating the lingering ice, Feldman said.

Feldman is the lead scientist for an Odyssey instrument that assesses water content indirectly through measurements of neutron emissions. He and other Odyssey scientists described their recent findings today at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

"Odyssey is giving us indications of recent global climate change in Mars," said Jeffrey Plaut, project scientist for the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

High latitude regions of Mars have layers with differing ice content within the top 20 inches (half-meter) or so of the surface, researchers conclude from mapping of hydrogen abundance based on gamma-ray emissions.

"A model that fits the data has three layers near the surface," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, Tucson, team leader for the gamma-ray spectrometer instrument on Odyssey. "The very top layer would be dry, with no ice. The next layer would contain ice in the pore spaces between grains of soil. Beneath that would be a very ice-rich layer, 60 to nearly 100 percent water ice."

Boynton interprets the iciest layer as a deposit of snow or frost, mixed with a little windblown dust, from an era when the climate was colder than nowadays. The middle layer could be the result of changes brought in a warmer era, when ice down to a certain depth dissipated into the atmosphere. The dust left behind collapsed into a soil layer with limited pore space for returning ice.

More study is needed to determine for sure what's going on.

Other Odyssey instruments are providing other pieces of the puzzle. Images from the orbiter's camera system have been combined into the highest resolution complete map ever made of Mars' south polar region.

"We can now accurately count craters in the layered materials of the polar regions to get an idea how old they are," said Phil Christensen of Arizona State University, Tempe, principal investigator for the camera system.

Temperature information from the camera system's infrared imaging has produced a surprise about dark patches that dot bright expanses of seasonal carbon-dioxide ice.

"Those dark features look like places where the ice has gone away, but thermal infrared maps show that even the dark areas have temperatures so low they must be carbon-dioxide ice." Christensen said. "One possibility is that the ice is clear in these areas and we're seeing down through the ice to features underneath."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: climatechange; globalwarming; mars
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Hmm, Mars global warming, Earth global warming. Coincidence? Or maybe there is a common connection between the two, like Sol?
1 posted on 12/08/2003 2:07:52 PM PST by Yo-Yo
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To: Yo-Yo; AAABEST; Ace2U; Alamo-Girl; Alas; alfons; amom; AndreaZingg; Anonymous2; ApesForEvolution; ..
Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

2 posted on 12/08/2003 2:08:46 PM PST by farmfriend ( Isaiah 55:10,11)
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To: Yo-Yo
LOL the enviro whack jobs have a new cause!!!
3 posted on 12/08/2003 2:10:09 PM PST by exnavy
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To: farmfriend
I guess this is all Bush's fault for driving his SUV around on MARS all the time.
4 posted on 12/08/2003 2:10:39 PM PST by UCANSEE2 ("Duty is ours, Results are God's" --John Quincy Adams)
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To: Yo-Yo
Martian Global Warming???

What did Bush know, and when did he know it???

; )
5 posted on 12/08/2003 2:10:40 PM PST by Vesuvian
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To: farmfriend
I knew that had cars and factories there. We're just looking in all the wrong places. They live underground.

Ah, said the blindman as he picked up his hammer and saw.

6 posted on 12/08/2003 2:10:41 PM PST by Sacajaweau (God Bless Our Troops!!)
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To: Yo-Yo
The common connection is that Americans have devastating consequences that reach beyond the globe. /hate-America liberalism
7 posted on 12/08/2003 2:11:21 PM PST by coloradan (Hence, etc.)
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To: exnavy
Gee...I wonder which Martian industries will have to scale back to 6 percent below 1990 emissions to SAVE THE PLANET ?
8 posted on 12/08/2003 2:11:23 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Yo-Yo
Scientists have suspected in recent years that Mars might be undergoing some sort of global warming.

KWEL! Martians have SUV's?

9 posted on 12/08/2003 2:11:47 PM PST by concerned about politics ( "Satire". It's Just "Satire.".......So it is.)
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To: Yo-Yo
Hmm, Mars global warming, Earth global warming. Coincidence? Or maybe there is a common connection between the two, like Sol?

Global warming caused by man and SUV's is a Hoax!!!

10 posted on 12/08/2003 2:12:57 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Davis is now out of Arnoold's Office , Bout Time!!!!)
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To: Yo-Yo
Must be damned conservative Martians running their SUVs all ovewr the place.
11 posted on 12/08/2003 2:13:23 PM PST by cynicom
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
All of them!
12 posted on 12/08/2003 2:13:33 PM PST by exnavy
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To: Yo-Yo
Wonder how long before the Greenies blame NASA for this? After all, they had that rover puttering around Mars for, what...six weeks? Horrors!


13 posted on 12/08/2003 2:13:50 PM PST by Prime Choice (Leftist opinions may be free, but I still feel like I'm getting ripped off every time I receive one.)
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To: Yo-Yo
Latest close-up of Mars:

I KNEW it!

14 posted on 12/08/2003 2:16:14 PM PST by pabianice
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To: Yo-Yo
Frozen water makes up as much as 10 percent of the top 3 feet (1 meter) of surface material in some regions

That would be about as deep as they can see into the surface. If the surface were dry, they could see deeper. So what might be under the very surface is unknown. It could be ice a mile deep. Water should be no problem once astronauts get to Mars with some tech to produce potable water from the mineral deposits.

15 posted on 12/08/2003 2:16:58 PM PST by RightWhale (Close your tag lines)
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To: Yo-Yo
Geez, I KNEW that Mars explorer should have been electric. Oh well... Mars is ruined. On to Jupiter.
16 posted on 12/08/2003 2:17:46 PM PST by Snuffington
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To: concerned about politics
Martians have SUV's?

Yup! And it's run with the Eludium Q-32 Space Modulator!


17 posted on 12/08/2003 2:17:47 PM PST by Prime Choice (Leftist opinions may be free, but I still feel like I'm getting ripped off every time I receive one.)
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To: Sacajaweau
I personally blame methane from purple Martian cows!

Ah, I see, said the blind man to the deaf dog, as he picked up his hammer and saw.

18 posted on 12/08/2003 2:18:21 PM PST by yatros from flatwater
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To: RightWhale
And this is the sort of news that keeps me from being stuck on exploration of Moon over Mars - both places are very interesting!
19 posted on 12/08/2003 2:21:35 PM PST by Frank_Discussion (May the wings of Liberty never lose a feather!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; shaggy eel
There were major studies posted here which pointed to the warming of our solar system. Mars is ours. We're all heating up, and our civilization is only responsible for max. 30% of the warming. I bet if we painted all our rooves white, and wore white hats, a lot of heat would be reflected back ! Alas...we really don't seem to care, just complain.

Of course, with enough white hats...Mars may heat up faster !

Then I could get my old hotrod (steering/brake problem) saucer back...if it melts deep enough. If it melts too much though...the eels may wake up, and our troubles would just be beginning.
20 posted on 12/08/2003 2:22:17 PM PST by PoorMuttly (DO, or DO NOT. There is no TRY - Yoda)
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