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Mars Polar Cap Mystery Solved
Matt_dk writes "Scientists are now able to explain why Mars' residual southern ice cap is misplaced, thanks to data from ESA's Mars Express spacecraft (the same probe running the 'Mars Webcam'). It turns out the martian weather system is to blame. And so is the largest impact crater on Mars — even though it is nowhere near the south pole. Like Earth, Mars has frozen polar caps, but unlike Earth, these caps are made of carbon dioxide ice as well as water ice. During the southern hemisphere's summer, much of the ice cap sublimates, a process in which the ice turns straight back into gas, leaving behind what is known as the residual polar cap. The mystery was that while the winter cap is symmetrical about the south pole, the residual cap was offset, and scientists couldn't figure out why."
It's right where I left it.
Frost poast?
Mar's ice cap is made of water ice!
Mars did the calculation for one pole in Metric and the other one in Imperial. That's why they don't line up.
Of all people, NASA should know this.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
It seems absurdly simple, but it is quite foreign to meteorology on our planet to have an impact crater affecting the global climate and weather patterns. That will be just another of those little things that will give future astronauts the "this isn't Kansas anymore" feeling as they live on another planet.
Better known as 318230.
In a press statement, Marvin the Martian's publicist told reporters that Marvin felt joy that hey was vindicated by the scientists' report. "Marvin has said all along that the missing polar cap had nothing to do with his lifestyle decision in owning 12 Hummers or related to his Illudium Pu-36 Explosive Space Modulator factory emissions." The publicist did answer allegations that the factory used illegal cartoon workers that were drawn and not colored. A spokesduck from the leading cartoon union said, "For cartoons to be drawn and not colored, that's dessssssspicable!"
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
It's global warming on a galactic scale!!
Or, maybe California can find a way to blame it on diesel fuel...
Mars prefers to where it's winter cap, gangsta style.
"Knocked into a cocked hat" comes to mind for some reason.
Have gnu, will travel.
I don't know why, but I always though of Mars as a planet without an atmosphere. Perhaps like our Moon, just much bigger. So when first reading the article, I thought that as soon as the carbon dioxide gas sublimated, it would be lost to space.
However, the atmosphere is just really thin: http://starryskies.com/solar_system/mars/martian_atmosphere.html
So, thanks to Slashdot, I once again expand my knowledge of the universe and learned something new today!
Maybe now the ending scene in Total Recall makes some more sense? I'll have to rewatch it and see...
This post brought to you by your friendly neighborhood MBA.
Weather causes weather anomaly! Film at 11!
Is the angle of offset rakish or merely jaunty?
It was the one-armed man!
The important phenomenon at work here is that of Rossby waves. It's interesting that this type of polar standing wave may also be implicated in the famous Saturnian hexagon.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Coming soon to a 7-11 near you, Carbondioxide-icecream, it doesn't drip, it doesn't make you water-bloated. and it makes you burp like a bastaard.
If you quote this signature there'll be 72 copies of Windows ME waiting for you in Heaven.
sublimate is a nasty, redundant back-formation.
Sorry, but... but.... actually, I'm not sorry. I'm a pedant.
So Mars was conked upside the head and now it's cap is skew? Mars is now probably a little slow too...
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Is there enough water on the moon to mount an assult force of laser-sharks?
Maybe this is the reason behind the recent funding of laser powered weapons.
The mystery was that while the winter cap is symmetrical about the south pole, the residual cap was offset, and scientists couldn't figure out why."
You're trying to make us read the fine article, aren't you!
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Now that we've satisfied the curiousity of a few scientists who had a burning question of why that happened, perhaps we can spend the next trillion dollars figuring out fire. I've always wondered why it flickers like that. Gotta be worth spending at least a few billion on.
jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
Mars webcam is in black and white and slightly tilted. Best Myspace Angle ever.
Believe it or not, this explains a lot.
There's a whole lot of people running loose that can't grasp that Earth's ice cap shrinks because of the Earth's summer.
I don't know if anyone else has read this trilogy, but I'm currently finishing the last book in the Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy.
This series follows a group of scientists as they inhabit and eventually terraform (partially) Mars. It's fantastic how accurate this book has been, covering complex topics on the effort to get to Mars, benefits and detriments to the explorers' health, even engineering feats such as how one might build a true space elevator (by anchoring it to a geostationary asteroid).
He specifically discusses and explains the polar-cap phenomenon caused by a massive meteorite strike. He explains and discusses the weather patterns, atmosphere and insolation issues. Recently, every "discovery" made on Mars has felt like a bit of déja vu, because he has written about it — even “predicted” it — in these books.
But what really impresses me is that the first book (containing all of these elements) was written in 1992. 16 years ago!
Check them out if you like complex, deep science fiction. These are on the complexity order of the Dune trilogy, but far more grounded in current technology.
No, no, no. Shrinking of polar ice caps is caused by global warming. Fortunately we have Earth's winters to come around and correct that shrinking.
is it just me or was that the most poorly written summary ever. reading through it, all I was thinking was "what is this mystery they keep referring to?" and then finally, in the very last line they reveal it; leaving me to re-read it now having some idea what they're talking about. shouldn't that have been pretty much the first thing outlined?
Weather here (in Kansas) is fine, and we do have a lot of former astronauts and astronomers from Kansas.
We also have a must-see, while you're on the topic -- the Cosmosphere! It's got a *lot* more space artifacts than the Air and Space Museum.... Too bad it's in Hutchinson, KS, though:
http://www.cosmo.org/
Once again, ESA has discovered something we have know about for years now: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v435/n7039/full/nature03561.html First, they discover water ice on Mars... The paper itself is quite interesting actually. I don't understand why the press outreach for ESA needs to come up with claims like "Mars Polar Cap Mystery Solved."
The Gish Bar Times - Blog covering Jupiter's moon Io
How do 'Soulskill' and 'Matt_dk' manage to remove a VERY important rule when copying and pasting from the article?
The article CLEARLY says:
They don't claim to have solved the 'mystery'. They have a theory - which may eventually be sufficient to explain what's being observed. But to leave that one word out? That had to have been intentionally removed?
Enough. This site has pasted its prime.
Not a single X-COM reference. That's mean.
All we need is a 2300km diameter hole that is 7km deep just like the Martians, it seems as if they've got their act together. I for one would like to start with France, unfortunately they are too small, Australia anyone?
Why not use duct tape to keep Polar Cap in place?
Eclipse PDE and Me
Fortunately we have Earth's winters to come around and correct that shrinking.
That's global cooling, my friend. Why else would the ice cap grow so much in so little time?