Water Ice Seen in Fresh Martian Meteor Craters

September 25th, 2009

Some recent meteor pounding on Mars has revealed some craters that show a bit of bright ice exposed at five Martian sites with new craters that range in depth from approximately half a meter to 2.5 meters. The ice was not seen in previous photos of the same sites.

Some of the craters show a thin layer of bright ice atop darker underlying material. The bright patches darkened in the weeks following initial observations, as the freshly exposed ice vaporized into the thin Martian atmosphere. One of the new craters had a bright patch of material large enough for one of the orbiter’s instruments to confirm it is water-ice. Sound slike a new exhibit at a Walt Disney World hotels.

The finds indicate water-ice occurs beneath Mars’ surface halfway between the north pole and the equator, a lower latitude than expected in the Martian climate.

“This ice is a relic of a more humid climate from perhaps just several thousand years ago,” said Shane Byrne of the University of Arizona, Tucson.