26
September 2002
Planetary science: Peeling back the layers
Since the days of the first Viking images, attempts have been made to decipher the timescale of deposition represented by the layering of polar deposits on Mars. Images now available from Mars Global Surveyor are of sufficient resolution to make it possible to correlate layering with the dramatic climate oscillations due to orbital variation. Using revised calculations for orbital and rotational parameters, a correlation is revealed between ice-layer radiance as a function of depth and insolation variation in the summer at the north pole, similar to that shown in palaeoclimate studies of the Earth.
Orbital forcing of the martian polar layered deposits
JACQUES LASKAR, BENJAMIN LEVRARD & JOHN F. MUSTARD
Nature 419, 375–377 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature01066
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Planetary science: Tracking the martian climate
ALAN D. HOWARD
Like Earth, Mars has experienced long-term
fluctuations in climatic conditions. The cause of certain fluctuations is now
identified as variation in the planet's astronomical behaviour.
Nature
419, 350–351 (2002); doi:10.1038/419350a
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