Image courtesy of Paopano / Alamy Stock Photo
Joel Kontinen
A large formation
near the equator of Mars is now thought to be made of water ice, which could
indicate that the Martian climate went through huge temperature swings in the
past.
Some scientists
suppose that “a colossal slab of ice may be hiding at Mars’s equator. The
composition of this deposit, called the Medusae Fossae Formation, has long been
debated, but new data indicates that it contains enough water to cover the
entire surface of Mars in an ocean 1.5 to 2.7 metres deep.”
When the Mars
Express orbiter first took radar measurements of Medusae Fossae, it was made up of water ice.
Source:
Leah Crane 2024
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