The mysteries buried in the Martian south pole ice cap
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped and color-enhanced to post here, was taken on November 3, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The picture is labeled as a “terrain sample,” which means it was likely taken not as part of any specific research project, but to fill a gap in the camera schedule in order to maintain the camera’s proper temperature. In this case the camera team tries to choose interesting features, though sometimes they can’t due to timing.
In this case they were able to target a nice piece of geology, a layered 2,000 foot cliff on the outer edge of the south pole ice cap. The color strip illustrates the possibilities within those layers. I have significantly enhanced the colors to bring out the differences. The orange suggests dust, the aqua-blue water ice, though these colors could also indicate interesting mineralogies.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location of this cliff, about 260 miles from the south pole and inside the vast region scientists have labeled — quite appropriately based on the photo above — the “layered ice/dust deposits”.
The Martian south pole cap as a complex structure. On top is a thin cap of dry ice (indicated by white). Below that is a thick cap of water ice (indicated by blue). Below that is the layered ice/dust cap that extends a great distance beyond.
The layers imply major climate cycles on Mars. Present theories posit these cycles occur because of radical changes in the red planet’s rotational tilt or obliquity, from 11 to 60 degrees, that have taken place numerous times in the last few million years. At this time Mars is tilted 25 degrees, similar to Earth’s 23 degrees. When that tilt is high, however, more than 45 degrees, the planet’s mid-latitudes are colder than the poles, and water ice sublimates away from the poles to fall as snow in the mid-latitudes. During this time the layers of dust at the ice cap likely form.
When that obliquity is low, less than 20 degrees, the mid-latitudes are warmer than the poles and the polar ice cap thickens, producing layers of pure ice, as suggested by the aqua-blue layers.
At least, that’s my guess. It will really take the hands-on analysis of multiple core samples to find out for sure, and that will take colonists on Mars able to do the work.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped and color-enhanced to post here, was taken on November 3, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The picture is labeled as a “terrain sample,” which means it was likely taken not as part of any specific research project, but to fill a gap in the camera schedule in order to maintain the camera’s proper temperature. In this case the camera team tries to choose interesting features, though sometimes they can’t due to timing.
In this case they were able to target a nice piece of geology, a layered 2,000 foot cliff on the outer edge of the south pole ice cap. The color strip illustrates the possibilities within those layers. I have significantly enhanced the colors to bring out the differences. The orange suggests dust, the aqua-blue water ice, though these colors could also indicate interesting mineralogies.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location of this cliff, about 260 miles from the south pole and inside the vast region scientists have labeled — quite appropriately based on the photo above — the “layered ice/dust deposits”.
The Martian south pole cap as a complex structure. On top is a thin cap of dry ice (indicated by white). Below that is a thick cap of water ice (indicated by blue). Below that is the layered ice/dust cap that extends a great distance beyond.
The layers imply major climate cycles on Mars. Present theories posit these cycles occur because of radical changes in the red planet’s rotational tilt or obliquity, from 11 to 60 degrees, that have taken place numerous times in the last few million years. At this time Mars is tilted 25 degrees, similar to Earth’s 23 degrees. When that tilt is high, however, more than 45 degrees, the planet’s mid-latitudes are colder than the poles, and water ice sublimates away from the poles to fall as snow in the mid-latitudes. During this time the layers of dust at the ice cap likely form.
When that obliquity is low, less than 20 degrees, the mid-latitudes are warmer than the poles and the polar ice cap thickens, producing layers of pure ice, as suggested by the aqua-blue layers.
At least, that’s my guess. It will really take the hands-on analysis of multiple core samples to find out for sure, and that will take colonists on Mars able to do the work.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
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