Scientists Discover New Evidence Pointing to Liquid Water Possible on Mars A study by the University of Cambridge provides the first independent evidence of liquid water under Mars’ south polar ice sheet using data other than radar.
Dr Francis Butcher, the study’s second researcher from the University of Sheffield, said in a statement: “This study is the best indication yet that liquid water exists on Mars today, as it means that two major pathways reveal subglacial lakes. It is now located on the surface of Mars.
He added in his statement that “liquid water is an essential element for life, although it does not necessarily mean the presence of life on Mars.”
The international research team, which also included scientists from the University of Nantes and University College Dublin, used measurements of the shape of the ice cap’s upper surface by the spacecraft’s laser altimeter to determine precise patterns in its altitude, then showed that these patterns matched computer model predictions. About how it affects the surface of the water under the ice sheet on the surface.
Like Earth, Mars has dense ice sheets of water at both poles that roughly equal the combined volume of the Greenland ice sheet.
However, unlike Earth’s ice sheets, which have large glacial lakes and water channels beneath them, Mars’ polar ice caps are believed to have frozen to Earth’s rocks due to the red planet’s frigid climate.
The scientists’ findings, reported today in Nature Astronomy, are consistent with previous ice radar measurements that were initially interpreted to show a possible region of liquid water under the ice.
The team used a variety of techniques to examine data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor satellite on the surface of the portion of Mars’ south polar ice cap where the radar signal was identified.
Their analysis revealed a surface ripple of 10-15 km that includes a depression and a corresponding elevated area, both deviating from the surrounding ice surface by several metres.