12:40 PM
Written by: Sinc Agency
The region of Tharsis It is a huge plateau located in the equatorial zone of Mars where large volcanoes rise, including the Olympus Mons or Mount Olympus, the largest in the Solar System. Now, for the first time, it has been observed water frost on the summits of these ancient and colossal volcanic buildings.
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The discovery, published this Monday in the magazine Nature Geoscience, It has been carried out by an international team of researchers with data from the missions ExoMars (with its TGO orbiter) and Mars Express of the European Space Agency (ESA).
“We thought it was impossible for frost to form around the equator of Mars, since the mixture of sunlight and thin atmosphere keeps temperatures relatively high both on the surface and on top of mountains, unlike what we see on Earth. Earth, where you might expect icy peaks,” says the lead author, Adomas Valantinaswho made the discovery as a doctoral student at the University of Bern (Switzerland) and is now studying his postdoc at Brown University (USA).
“Its existence here is exciting, and hints that there are exceptional processes at play that allow frost to form,” he adds. In fact, the findings support the role of localized atmospheric circulation on these giant volcanoes in the active exchange of water between the Martian surface and atmosphere.
Fine frost in winter until dawn
Frost zones are present during a few hours around dawn, before evaporating in sunlight. Despite its thin thickness, probably only one hundredth of a millimeter (like a human hair), cover a vast surface area.
The amount of frost represents about 150,000 tons of water that pass from the surface to the atmosphere every day during the cold seasons, the equivalent of about 60 Olympic swimming pools.
“It is the first time that water ice formations have been detected in non-polar latitudes on Mars,” another of the authors emphasizes to SINC. José Juan López Morenofrom the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), who confirms when the phenomenon occurs: “The detections have occurred during the local winter and early in the morning, since once solar radiation increases the surface temperature, The deposits evaporate and pass into the atmosphere.”
In addition to Mount Olympus, the Martian region of Tharsis is home to other volcanoes such as Ascraeus, Pavonis and Arsia Mons, which rise above the surrounding plains to heights ranging from one (Pavonis Mons) to three (Olympus Mons) times that of Earth’s Mount Everest.
A unique microclimate
These volcanoes present boilers or large depressions in their summits caused by the emptying of magma chambers during past eruptions. The researchers propose that the air circulates in a peculiar way above Tharsis, which creates a unique microclimate inside these calderas that allows the formation of thin ice plates.
“Winds move up mountain slopes and transport relatively moist air from the surface to higher altitudes, where it condenses and settles as frost,” explains the co-author. Nicholas Thomas from the University of Bern, principal investigator of the ExoMars CaSSIS instrument.
“In fact,” he continues, “we see this happening on Earth and in other parts of Mars, and it is the same phenomenon that causes the so-called Martian seasonal Arsia Mons elongated cloud. The Frost “What we see at the top of Mars volcanoes seems to settle especially in the shadowed regions of the calderas, where temperatures are colder.”
Help searching for signs of life
The authors observed it in volcanoes Olympus, Arsia and Ascraeusas well as in Ceraunius Tholus. Modeling how these frosts form could allow scientists to unlock more secrets about Mars, such as where is water and how it moves, in addition to better understanding the complex atmospheric dynamics of the planet. This knowledge is essential for our future exploration of Mars and the search for possible signs of life beyond the Earth.
Unexpected and compelling
This discovery marks the first time frost has been discovered on Mars’ equator, but does it why had it not been detected before? “There are several reasons: first, we need an orbit that allows us to observe a place early in the morning. While the two European Mars orbiters (TGO and Mars Express) have orbits of this type and can observe at any time of the day, many of the other organisms are synchronized with the Sun and can only be observed in the afternoon,” answers Adomas.
“Secondly,” he adds, “frost deposition is linked to the coldest Martian seasons, which further narrows the window for detecting it. In short, we have to know where and when to look for ephemeral frost. It turns out that we were looking for it near the equator for other research, but we did not expect to see it on the top of the volcanoes on Mars.”
The orbiter ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) arrived on Mars in 2016 and has been imaging and mapping its surface, atmosphere and water since it began its scientific mission in 2018. For its part, Mars Express has been orbiting this planet since 2003, two decades of exploration of the surface, subsurface, minerals, atmosphere and Martian phenomena. In this new study, the data from the two missions have been added.
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The discovery of frost was first made with the Color Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) by TGO. This was then confirmed by observing the area again with the NOMAD spectrometer (Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery) of this orbiter and with the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) of the Mars Express mission.
“Finding water on the surface of Mars is always exciting, both because of its scientific interest and because of its implications for human and robotic exploration,” he says. Colin WilsonESA project scientist on both missions.
“Still, this discovery is especially fascinating. Mars’ low atmospheric pressure creates a unfamiliar situation “in which the planet’s mountaintops are typically no colder than its plains, but it appears that moist air blowing down mountain slopes can still condense into frost, a phenomenon decidedly similar to that on Earth,” he notes. .
The scientist concludes: “This discovery has been possible thanks to the collaboration between the two ESA orbiters and also the development of additional models. “Understanding exactly what phenomena are the same or different on Mars and Earth tests and improves our understanding of basic processes that occur not only on our planet, but also elsewhere in the universe.”
