NASA’s SHARAD Radar Discovers Martian Ice Age Record Through Mars Polar Cap

Mars polar cap record of the most recent Martian ice age has been discovered by scientists through the radar data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of NASA. These new findings are in agreement with the previous models showing a glacial period that ended 400,000 years ago, including a projection of the amount of ice accumulated since then.

The Mars polar cap findings, published in the journal Science on May issue, help improve the models of the past and future climate of the red planet by allowing the scientists establish the movements of ice between the mid-latitudes and the poles, including the volume.

Mars polar cap is easily detected from the Earth using a telescope. A seasonal cover of snow and carbon-dioxide ice is noted to retreat and move over the poles during the Martian year. In the red planet's north during summertime, the rest of the northern polar cap is reported to be all water, while the southern cap is also water ice, yet remains shielded by a considerably thin layer of carbon dioxide ice though it is southern summertime, Phys.Org reported.

In addition, the researchers also found out a border in the ice that reaches across the whole north polar cap. Above the border, the layers piled up uniformly and very quickly  than the layers below. According to planetary scientist Isaac Smith, this shows a period of erosion, which was followed by a phase of rapid accumulation that still happens today.

Furthermore, Martian variety happens when the poles get warmer than the lower latitudes. During this time, polar caps draw back and water vapor drifts toward the equator to form glaciers and ground ice in mid-latitudes.  The polar ice starts to pile up again as the warm polar phase ends while the ice is lost from the mid-latitudes. This polar ice activity of retreat and regrowth is precisely what the scientists see in the Mars polar cap record uncovered by the SHARAD radar images gathered by NASA, according to Express.