According to a brand-new analysis, which has actually found dozens more of these glossy spots, some of them are in areas that are just too cold for liquid water, even a brine, which can have a lower freezing temperature level than freshwater.” Were not certain whether these signals are liquid water or not, however they appear to be much more extensive than what the initial paper found,” said planetary researcher Jeffrey Plaut of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory.” Either liquid water is common below Mars south pole, or these signals are indicative of something else.” Some types of product reflect radar signals much better than others, and liquid water is one of those products,” planetary researcher Graziella Caparelli of the University of Southern Queensland in Australia told ScienceAlert last year.

In 2018, scientists made a discovery that could alter our understanding of the dirty, dry red ball that is Mars.Radar signals bounced from simply below the worlds surface exposed a shining spot, constant with absolutely nothing even an underground swimming pool of liquid water. Subsequent searches turned up much more shiny spots, suggesting a whole network of underground lakes.
Groundbreaking stuff, right? Although Mars has water in the form of ice, to date not a single drop of the liquid things has ever been found on our red buddy.Theres simply one problem. According to a brand-new analysis, which has found lots more of these glossy spots, some of them remain in regions that are just too cold for liquid water, even a brine, which can have a lower freezing temperature than freshwater.” Were not certain whether these signals are liquid water or not, however they appear to be much more prevalent than what the original paper found,” said planetary scientist Jeffrey Plaut of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory.” Either liquid water prevails beneath Mars south pole, or these signals are a sign of something else.” The first feature was discovered at the Martian south pole, under the ice cap, using the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on the Mars Express orbiter.A follow-up search of archived information exposed three more of these lake-like features. MARSIS utilizes radar signals to penetrate below the Martian ice cap, which includes alternating layers of co2 and water ice. We know, from utilizing such innovation in the world, which signals are a sign of particular products.” Some types of product show radar signals much better than others, and liquid water is one of those materials,” planetary scientist Graziella Caparelli of the University of Southern Queensland in Australia told ScienceAlert in 2015.” Therefore, when the signals coming from the subsurface are more powerful than those shown by the surface, we can confirm that we remain in the existence of liquid water.The signals originating from these subsurface spots were, undoubtedly, more powerful than the signal coming from the surface itself, but the region in which they were found was relatively small.So Plaut and planetary scientist Aditya Khuller of Arizona State University expanded the search. They mapped out 44,000 measurements throughout 15 years of MARSIS data to cover the entire Martian south pole.They found dozens more of the extremely reflective patches, spread out over a higher range than formerly recognized. But the surface area of a few of the brand-new patches lay hardly a kilometer or two (less than a mile) below the surface, at which point temperatures are estimated to sit at around 210 Kelvin (-63 degrees Celsius, or -81 degrees Fahrenheit). Previous research has found that water imbued with salts of calcium and magnesium can remain liquid at temperatures as low as 150 Kelvin for long time periods. We likewise understand that Mars is abundant in salts of calcium and magnesium, as well as sodium. But a 2019 paper discovered that no quantity of salt is sufficient to melt the ice at the base of the Martian south pole layered deposits.They concluded that there would need to be some kind of basal heating, possibly in the form of geothermal activity: volcanism. While there is current proof of volcanic activity on Mars, it was located in the lower latitudes, not the poles.” They discovered that it would take double the approximated Martian geothermal heat flow to keep this water liquid,” Khuller described.” One possible way to get this amount of heat is through volcanism. We have not really seen any strong proof for recent volcanism at the south pole, so it appears unlikely that volcanic activity would permit subsurface liquid water to be present throughout this region.” So what the heck are these glossy spots? Well, we dont understand. The group thinks it is unlikely to be liquid water– but their mapping may help figure it out. We now know, for instance, that whatever is causing them is prevalent across the Martian south pole.And, if the spots do end up being liquid water, then the work will, the scientists said, assist better comprehend how it became there.The research has been released in Geophysical Research Letters..