Multiple subglacial water bodies below the south pole of Mars unveiled by new MARSIS data
@article{Lauro2020MultipleSW, title={Multiple subglacial water bodies below the south pole of Mars unveiled by new MARSIS data}, author={Sebastian Emanuel Lauro and Elena Pettinelli and Graziella Caprarelli and Luca Guallini and Angelo Pio Rossi and Elisabetta Mattei and Barbara Cosciotti and Andrea Cicchetti and Francesco Soldovieri and Marco Cartacci and Federico Di Paolo and Raffaella Noschese and Roberto Orosei}, journal={Nature Astronomy}, year={2020}, volume={5}, pages={63-70} }
The detection of liquid water by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) at the base of the south polar layered deposits in Ultimi Scopuli has reinvigorated the debate about the origin and stability of liquid water under present-day Martian conditions. To establish the extent of subglacial water in this region, we acquired new data, achieving extended radar coverage over the study area. Here, we present and discuss the results obtained by a new method of analysis…
59 Citations
The Global Search for Liquid Water on Mars from Orbit: Current and Future Perspectives
- GeologyLife
- 2020
The present analysis clarifies that the conditions causing exceptionally strong subsurfaced echoes occur solely in the Martian polar caps, and that the detection of subsurface water under a predominantly rocky surface layer using radar sounding will require thorough electromagnetic modeling, complicated by the lack of knowledge of many subsurfaces physical parameters.
Characteristics of the Basal Interface of the Martian South Polar Layered Deposits
- GeologyGeophysical Research Letters
- 2021
We expand on previous studies of the South Polar Layered Deposits' (SPLD) basal interface using data acquired by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) to obtain…
GEOLOGIC CONTEXT OF THE BRIGHT MARSIS REFLECTOR IN ULTIMI SCOPULI, SOUTH POLAR LAYERED DEPOSITS, MARS
- Geology, Environmental Science
- 2021
Radar-bright basal reflectors have been detected below the South Polar Layered Deposits (SPLD), data and have an exciting but controversial interpretation: liquid water from subglacial lakes. We…
The Basal Detectability of an Ice‐Covered Mars by MARSIS
- GeologyGeophysical Research Letters
- 2022
Introduction. The detection of anomalously strong relative basal reflectivity beneath the Martian South Polar Layered Deposits (SPLD) from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere…
Radar sounding survey over Devon Ice Cap indicates the potential for a diverse hypersaline subglacial hydrological environment
- Environmental Science
- 2021
Abstract. Prior geophysical surveys provided evidence for a hypersaline subglacial lake complex beneath the center of Devon Ice Cap, Canadian Arctic; however, the full extent and characteristics of…
Explaining Bright Radar Reflections Below The Martian South Polar Layered Deposits Without Liquid Water
- Geology, Physics
- 2021
Introduction Recent discoveries of anomalously bright radar reflections below the Mars South Polar Layered Deposit (SPLD) have sparked new speculation that liquid water may be present below the ice…
Alternatives to Liquid Water Beneath the South Polar Ice Cap of Mars
- GeologyGeophysical Research Letters
- 2021
Radar sounding of Mars’ south polar ice cap has revealed portions of its base with stronger radar returns than its surface. These have been used to estimate high real permittivity values consistent…
Strong MARSIS Radar Reflections From the Base of Martian South Polar Cap May Be Due to Conductive Ice or Minerals
- GeologyGeophysical Research Letters
- 2021
Recent results from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument have been interpreted as evidence of subsurface brine pooled beneath 1.3 km‐thick South Polar…
The Composition of the South Polar Cap of Mars Derived From Orbital Data
- GeologyJournal of Geophysical Research: Planets
- 2021
The flexure of the lithosphere under stresses imposed by the geologically young south polar cap is one of the few clues we have regarding the south polar cap composition and the present‐day thermal…
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