And while there is water at many locations on Mars, including at the poles, astronomers have detected remarkably bright reflections under the formation of 1.4 km thick pure water ice by the European Space Agency’s Mars orbiter.
But computer simulations created by a team at Cornell University indicate that another phenomenon, the overlapping of geological layers on the Red Planet, may be the real cause of these reversals.
Strong reflections can be created in this simulation without liquid water or other rare materials, making it unlikely that there is liquid water beneath the Martian south pole sediments.
The simulation consists of layers of four materials, the atmosphere, water ice, carbon dioxide ice and basalt, with computer monitoring of each layer’s interaction with electromagnetic radiation.
The scientists found that three layers, consisting of two layers of carbon dioxide separated by a single layer of ice, can produce reflections like those seen on the surface of the planet.
“On Earth, bright reflections are often an indication of liquid water, even in buried lakes like Lake Vostok (below the surface of the East Antarctic ice sheet, which was under 3 kilometers of ice for millions of years.) But on Mars, the prevailing view was that it was too cold to form such lakes.”
“I used layers of CO2 embedded within water ice because we know they are already present in large quantities near the surface of the ice sheet. In principle, I could have used layers of rock or even dusty water ice and I would have had similar results,” Lalish added.
The discovery of water on Mars is vital because it can be an indication of the presence of life there, as well as a resource that humans can use to develop an outpost.
Is there water on Mars? New research explores this mystery.
“Reflections that bright are often an indication of liquid water… But on Mars, the prevailing opinion was that it should be too cold for similar lakes to form,” says Dan Lalich at @CornellCAS.https://t.co/KMMi7E0klx
— Cornell University (@Cornell) October 3, 2022
“None of the work we’ve done refutes the possible presence of liquid water there,” Lalish explained. We only think that the stratified overlap hypothesis is more consistent with the other observations.”
Previous research published in January reinforces the idea that water does not exist under the pole, according to Cyril Grima, a planetary scientist at the University of Texas Geophysics Institute, who said: “Igneous rocks, buried under ice, appear to be the most likely explanation, because the rich lava flows Iron on Earth can leave behind rocks that produce similar reflections, and the same effect is likely to happen on our neighboring planet.”