The equatorial region of Mars is home to the solar system’s tallest volcanoes, which — in addition to standing as tall as three Mount Everests in some cases — likely hide an unexpected frosty phenomenon, a new study has found.The biggest one — Olympus Mons — is 16 miles (26 kilometers) high and a whopping 374 miles (602 kilometers) in diameter, making it about 100 times larger than Earth’s biggest volcano, Mauna Loa, in Hawaii. In fact, the entire Hawaiian islands chain would fit inside the Martian volcano, according to NASA. The study findings suggest that water can be found almost anywhere on the surface of the red planet, lead author Adomas Valantinas said. – NASA/JPL/MSSSThese giants are topped by large calderas — bowl-shaped depressions caused by the collapse of the top of the volcano after an intense eruption.The sheer size of the calderas — up to 75 miles (121 kilometers) across — creates a special microclimate inside them. Using cameras fitted on probes orbiting Mars, researchers have observed morning frost forming inside the calderas for the first time.“The deposits are forming on the caldera floor, but we also see a bit of frost on its rim. We also confirmed that it’s ice and likely water,” said Adomas Valantinas, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University who made the discovery as a doctoral student at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and the lead author of the study.“It’s significant because it shows us that Mars is a dynamic planet, but also that water can be found almost everywhere on the Martian surface.”5,000 imagesThe team of more than two dozen researchers spotted frost in four volcanoes: Arsia Mons, Ascraeus Mons and Ceraunius Tholus, as well as Olympus Mons, according to the study published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience.The deposits are extremely thin — just one-hundredth of a millimeter thick, or one-sixth of a human hair, according to Valantinas — but they are spread over such a large surface area that they amount to a lot of water. “Based on rough estimates, it’s abo …
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnThe equatorial region of Mars is home to the solar system’s tallest volcanoes, which — in addition to standing as tall as three Mount Everests in some cases — likely hide an unexpected frosty phenomenon, a new study has found.The biggest one — Olympus Mons — is 16 miles (26 kilometers) high and a whopping 374 miles (602 kilometers) in diameter, making it about 100 times larger than Earth’s biggest volcano, Mauna Loa, in Hawaii. In fact, the entire Hawaiian islands chain would fit inside the Martian volcano, according to NASA. The study findings suggest that water can be found almost anywhere on the surface of the red planet, lead author Adomas Valantinas said. – NASA/JPL/MSSSThese giants are topped by large calderas — bowl-shaped depressions caused by the collapse of the top of the volcano after an intense eruption.The sheer size of the calderas — up to 75 miles (121 kilometers) across — creates a special microclimate inside them. Using cameras fitted on probes orbiting Mars, researchers have observed morning frost forming inside the calderas for the first time.“The deposits are forming on the caldera floor, but we also see a bit of frost on its rim. We also confirmed that it’s ice and likely water,” said Adomas Valantinas, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University who made the discovery as a doctoral student at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and the lead author of the study.“It’s significant because it shows us that Mars is a dynamic planet, but also that water can be found almost everywhere on the Martian surface.”5,000 imagesThe team of more than two dozen researchers spotted frost in four volcanoes: Arsia Mons, Ascraeus Mons and Ceraunius Tholus, as well as Olympus Mons, according to the study published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience.The deposits are extremely thin — just one-hundredth of a millimeter thick, or one-sixth of a human hair, according to Valantinas — but they are spread over such a large surface area that they amount to a lot of water. “Based on rough estimates, it’s abo …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
