Springtime on Mars
Artist graphic of CO2 geysers erupting during springtime at the South Pole on Mars (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/AZSU)
Springtime begins on Mars while it is still winter here on Earth.
According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, the Martian year is more than twice as long as on Earth and the Martian Spring begins with the planet’s northern hemisphere tilted differently than our same hemisphere on Earth. While our northern winter is in progress, spring is beginning in the northern hemisphere on Mars. The temperatures on Mars are rising and the frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice), that condensed from the atmosphere during the Mars Winter, is thinning. This seasonal CO2 thawing causes avalanches to crash down cliff faces, the gas to explode from the ground, and gusting winds to reshape the Martian north pole. As one JPL geologist commented:
Springtime on Earth has trickling water as ice gradually melts, but on Mars everything happens with a bang (when the CO2 turns directly from a solid to a gas).
The resulting weird geology, mediated by the gas, has been imaged on the Red Planet by JPL's Mars Reconaissance Orbirter mission (MRO) since arriving there in 2006. New features are still being discovered by the mission's cameras and sensors. Here are two striking examples:
CO2 frost avalanches on Martian cliff face in Spring and CO2 geyser-produced 'spider leg' landforms after de-gassing (credit: NASA/JPL-CalTech/AZSU)
JPL created a Mars Report that details some of these exciting new discoveries and geologic features. Nothing similar have been seen on Earth. Perhaps someday, new and powerful land rovers and aerial helicopters will roll across the Martian surface and fly above them to take a closer look. WHB