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Planetary science

Tracking the martian climate

Nature volume 419, pages 350–351 (2002)Cite this article

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.

At the martian north pole, the layered deposits are covered with a perennial cap of water ice with dust mixed in3. At the south pole the perennial cap is much smaller than the layered deposits, and is composed of carbon dioxide ice probably underlain by water ice. A roughly spiral set of troughs and scarps incised into the underlying deposits at the north pole (Fig. 1) define a succession of nearly horizontal layers on the trough slopes facing the equator. The layers have been deposited by accumulation of ice and atmospheric dust in uncertain proportions, possibly incorporating CO2 in a caged form known as clathrates. The trough slopes have presumably been exposed by ablation of water ice within the layers by evaporation and removal of the dust by wind3.

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Figure 1: Relief image of the north polar cap of Mars.

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  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 22904, Virginia, USA

    Alan D. Howard

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  1. Alan D. Howard
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Correspondence to Alan D. Howard.

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Howard, A. Tracking the martian climate. Nature 419, 350–351 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/419350a

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