Tag Archives: climate

Early Mars: Arid, with occasional snow or rain

Posted on October 18, 2018 by rburnham

[Editor’s note: From a paper by Yo Matsubara, Alan Howard, and Ross Irwin recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.] Constraints on the Noachian paleoclimate of the martian highlands from landscape evolution modeling Evidences show that Mars was once wetter … Continue reading →

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Mars minerology points to cold, icy ancient climate

Posted on June 8, 2018 by rburnham

The climate throughout Mars’ early history has long been debated – was the Red Planet warm and wet, or cold and icy? New research published in Icarus provides evidence for the latter. Mars is littered with valley networks, deltas and … Continue reading →

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Early Mars climate changes driven by carbonate – silicate cycle

Posted on December 2, 2016 by rburnham

Dramatic climate cycles on early Mars, triggered by buildup of greenhouse gases, may be the key to understanding how liquid water left its mark on the planet’s surface, according to a team of planetary scientists. Scientists have long debated how … Continue reading →

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Fossil rivers suggest warm, wet ancient Mars

Posted on August 29, 2016 by rburnham

Extensive systems of fossilised riverbeds have been discovered on an ancient region of the Martian surface, supporting the idea that the now cold and dry Red Planet had a warm and wet climate about 4 billion years ago, according to … Continue reading →

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Explaining valley networks with climate models

Posted on October 14, 2015 by rburnham

The extensive valley networks on the surface of Mars were probably created by running water billions of years ago, but the source of that water is unknown. Now, a team of Penn State and NASA researchers is using climate models … Continue reading →

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Ancient Mars was icy and cold

Posted on June 16, 2015 by rburnham

The high seas of Mars may never have existed. According to a new study that looks at two opposite climate scenarios of early Mars, a cold and icy planet billions of years ago better explains water drainage and erosion features … Continue reading →

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ALH84001′s carbonates record ancient climate

Posted on December 23, 2014 by rburnham

A new analysis of a Martian rock that meteorite hunters plucked from an Antarctic ice field 30 years ago this month reveals a record of the planet’s climate billions of years ago, back when water likely washed across its surface … Continue reading →

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Early Mars warmth, flowing water: episodic only

Posted on November 19, 2014 by rburnham

How to reconcile indisputable evidence of flowing water on Mars with severely low temperatures? New research shows volcanism and greenhouse gas could have warmed the planet sufficiently, but only for tens or hundreds of years at a time. Ample evidence … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Blockfall on north polar layered deposits

Posted on June 20, 2014 by rburnham

The north polar layered deposits (NPLD) are a stack of layers of ice and dust at the North Pole of Mars. The layers are thought to have been deposited over millions of years, as the atmosphere changed in response to … Continue reading →

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Was nitrogen in the early Mars atmosphere a key to ancient habitability?

Posted on June 5, 2013 by rburnham

Scientists have long suspected that ancient Mars had a thicker atmosphere and temperatures warmer and far more habitable than at present. But modelers have difficulties making the numbers come out right,

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