Publication Date:
2002-01-05
Description:
High-resolution images of the south polar residual cap of Mars acquired in 1999 and 2001 show changes in the configuration of pits, intervening ridges, and isolated mounds. Escarpments have retreated 1 to 3 meters in 1 martian year, changes that are an order of magnitude larger than can be explained by the sublimation of water ice, but close to what is expected for sublimation of carbon dioxide ice. These observations support a 35-year-old conjecture that Mars has a large surface reservoir of solid carbon dioxide. The erosion implies that this reservoir is not in equilibrium with the present environment and that global climate change is occurring on Mars.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Malin, M C -- Caplinger, M A -- Davis, S D -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2001 Dec 7;294(5549):2146-8.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Malin Space Science Systems, Post Office Box 910148, SanDiego, CA 92191-0148, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11768358" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Atmosphere
;
*Carbon Dioxide
;
*Dry Ice
;
Extraterrestrial Environment
;
*Mars
;
Water
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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