[meteorite-list] NASA Scientists Solve Mars South Pole Mystery

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat May 14 21:46:36 2005
Message-ID: <200505150129.j4F1TMe12986_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2005/05_30AR.html

Dolores Beasley
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Phone: 202/358-1753

John Bluck
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650/604-5026 or 604-9000

May 13, 2005
RELEASE: 05_30AR

NASA Scientists Solve Mars South Pole Mystery

NASA scientists have solved an age-old mystery by finding that Mars'
southern polar cap is offset from its geographical south pole because of
two different polar climates.

Weather generated by the two martian regional climates creates
conditions that cause the red planet's southern polar ice to freeze out
into a cap whose center lies about 93 miles (150 kilometers) from the
actual south pole, according to a scientific paper included in the May
12 issue of the journal, Nature.

"Mars' permanent south polar cap is offset from its geographic south
pole, which was a mystery going back to the first telescopic
observations of Mars," said the paper's lead author, Anthony Colaprete,
a space scientist from NASA Ames Research Center, located in
California's Silicon Valley. "We found that the offset is a result of
two martian regional climates, which are on either side of the south
pole," he said.

The scientists found that the location of two huge craters in the
southern hemisphere of Mars is the root cause of the two distinct climates.

"The two craters' unique landscapes create winds that establish a low
pressure region over the permanent ice cap in the western hemisphere,"
Colaprete explained.

Just as on Earth, low-pressure weather systems are associated with cold,
stormy weather and snow. "On Mars, the craters anchor the low pressure
system that dominates the southern polar ice cap, and keep it in one
location," Colaprete said.

According to the scientists, the low-pressure system results in white
fluffy snow, which appears as a very bright region over the ice cap. In
contrast, the scientists also report that 'black ice' forms in the
eastern hemisphere, where martian skies are relatively clear and warm.

"The eastern hemisphere of the south pole region gets very little snow,
and clear ice forms over the martian soil there," Colaprete said. Black
ice forms when the planet's surface is cooling, but the atmosphere is
relatively warm, according to scientists. "A similar process occurs on
Earth when black ice forms over highways," Colaprete explained.

Colaprete's co-authors include Jeffrey Barnes, Oregon State University,
Corvallis; Robert Haberle, also of NASA Ames; Jeffery Hollingsworth, San
Jose State University Foundation, NASA Ames; and Hugh Kieffer and
Timothy Titus, both from the U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Ariz.

- end -
Received on Sat 14 May 2005 09:29:20 PM PDT