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Canadian scientists find evidence of Martian water cycle


Date: 02-Jul-09
Author: Canadian Space Agency

According to the first findings from the Phoenix Mars Lander mission, snow and water-ice clouds play a crucial role in the exchange of water between the atmosphere and surface of Mars, which suggests that the Red Planet is even more like Earth than previously thought.

The surprise discovery of Martian snow in 2008 by the Canadian-built weather station on NASA's Phoenix Mars lander helps explain how the water cycle on Mars behaves, especially the seasonal increase of the Martian polar caps in winter and their shrinking in summer.

The Canadian science team's paper, entitled "Mars Water-Ice Clouds and Precipitation," describes how water vapour is lofted upwards during the daytime, forming clouds of ice-crystals low in the atmosphere that resemble cirrus clouds on Earth. Water then precipitates through the atmosphere at night in the form of snow.

Prior to the Phoenix mission, scientists had not anticipated precipitation on Mars, nor had they predicted that clouds would form as low as they did.


Canadian Meteorological Station on Phoenix.  Courtesy: NASA JPL / Univ. of Arizona / Texas A&M Univ.  (Click on image for larger version)

Full story: Canadian Scientists Find Clues to the Water Cycle on Mars

Related link:

• Mars Phoenix mission

 

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