Tag Archives: atmosphere

Are brines actually needed to make recurring slope lineae flow?

Posted on April 5, 2013 by rburnham

Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are finger-like dark lines on steep slopes that appear and grow longer during the warmest time of year, then fade and disappear over winter. They repeat the following Mars year in the same places. While scientists … Continue reading →

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‘Faint young Sun paradox’ a problem for Mars (and Earth, too)

Posted on April 3, 2013 by rburnham

Astronomers say that billions of years ago when the Sun was young, it shone with only 70 percent its current brightness, notes Robert Craddock (Smithsonian Institution). If that were true of today’s Sun,

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Gale’s winds sculpted the Mt. Sharp mound as they built it

Posted on April 1, 2013 by rburnham

The major reason for sending the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity to Gale Crater is the five-kilometer (three-mile) high layered mound, dubbed Mt. Sharp, that looms at the crater’s center. The lowest layers have been altered by water

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Icy jets erupt from north polar dunes in spring

Posted on March 27, 2013 by rburnham

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.

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Mars’ ancient climate had a “wet-pass” filter

Posted on January 17, 2013 by rburnham

Volcanic eruptions — and the rocks they produce — dominate the surface of the Red Planet. Mars also shows evidence for activity by liquid water — sediments, channels, and valley networks — through much of its history. While volcanos can … Continue reading →

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Explosive eruptions in dense ancient atmospheres

Posted on January 12, 2013 by rburnham

Explosive volcanic eruptions on an earlier Mars with a thicker atmosphere would have scattered fine ash (pyroclastic debris) mainly east or west of the volcano, a new study finds. Also, a denser ancient atmosphere supports the addition of Arsia and … Continue reading →

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Loess in the lowlands

Posted on December 11, 2012 by rburnham

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 →

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Hurtling moon casts no cooling shadow

Posted on November 26, 2012 by rburnham

Total solar eclipses on Earth take hours to unfold, even if totality — the brief time when all the Sun is covered — lasts just a few minutes. Almost everyone who stands in the path of a solar eclipse notes … Continue reading →

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When did the Martian dynamo die?

Posted on November 7, 2012 by rburnham

Current thinking among Mars scientists holds that the Red Planet’s dynamo — the geo-engine in its molten core which generates a global magnetic field — was active soon after the planet formed, but turned off about 4 billion years ago. … Continue reading →

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Methane in a flash

Posted on September 10, 2012 by rburnham

Martian methane is a hot topic because of its potential origin in biological, as well as geological processes. Observations (Earth-based and from Mars orbit) have found only a small quantity of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere of Mars — … Continue reading →

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