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Tag Archives: CO2 ice
Dry ice slabs carve linear grooves down Mars dunes
The “megadune” in Russell Crater features linear grooves or gullies a few meters wide, a meter or two deep, and roughly a kilometer or two long. The origin of these gullies and similar ones in other high-latitude craters has been … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, CO2 ice, dunes, grooves, gullies, HiRISE, linear gullies, Russell Crater
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Icy jets erupt from north polar dunes in spring
Jets of gas erupting in the springtime from beneath slabs of carbon dioxide ice at the Martian south pole was a dramatic finding in 2006. It explained the mysterious “spiders” which came and went each year. Now the same mechanism … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, CO2 ice, dunes, HiRISE, LPSC 2013, north polar sand sea, sand dunes
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Loess in the lowlands
A team of geologists led by James A. Skinner, Jr. (U.S. Geological Survey) has discovered and mapped a previously unidentified unit in the Martian northern lowlands. The unit appears to give evidence of a major climate shift long ago in … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, climate change, CO2 ice, CTX, loess, MOLA, north polar ice cap, northern plains, THEMIS
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Making polar spiders in the lab
The formation of “spiders” during Martian south polar spring is one of the most spectacular natural phenomena on the Red Planet. Briefly, what happens is that every winter carbon dioxide ice forms a translucent layer above the sandy ground. Then … Continue reading
Latitude controlled Amazonian ice flows
Signs of underground ice deposited in the Amazonian period (the most recent in Martian history) are common in many places on Mars. Evidence includes tropical mountain glacier deposits, lobate debris aprons, lineated valley fill, concentric crater fill, and pedestal craters. … Continue reading
Seasonal changes seen in south polar gullies
Images from the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have captured the first visible evidence for seasonal changes in gullies on slopes in the south polar region of Mars. Giving a report (PDF) at the 43rd Lunar and Planetary … Continue reading
Polar gullies erode from carbon dioxide flows
Gullies on Martian slopes form by flowing water, most probably trickles of snowmelt or groundwater. But what about the gullies found in places such as the high latitudes and polar regions where temperatures never rise above the freezing point for … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged CO2 ice, dust, frost, gullies, polar regions, sediments, water
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Dry ice glaciers?
Scientists examining rocky remnants in Mars’ northern polar region believe they have found evidence for a type of glacier unknown on Earth – one where the ice is made of frozen carbon dioxide rather than water. Mikhail Kreslavsky (University of … Continue reading
South polar CO2 ice could double Mars’ atmosphere
Results from the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show that the south polar layered deposits on Mars hold about 30 times as much carbon dioxide ice as previously known. If this CO2 were released into the … Continue reading