Space : Mars once had a vast ocean bigger than the Arctic
In his youth, Mars was a wet planet. It even housed a vast ocean as the Arctic, according to NASA scientists, whose work was published Thursday, March 5 in the journal Science.
Their findings show that the planet had so much water it could have been completely covered to a depth of 137 meters, researchers say. This ocean that covered half of the northern hemisphere of the planet, reaching in places over 1.6 km deep, according to their research. This sea was to cover 19% of the planet. In comparison, the Atlantic occupies 17% of the surface of the Earth.
"Our study provides a good estimate of the water was on Mars in determining the amounts lost in space," says Geronimo Villanueva, a center researcher Goddard Space Flight NASA in Greenbelt, Maryland, the one of the main authors. Detailed analyzes of the Martian atmosphere enabled them to establish that the Red Planet had indeed lost 87% of its water in space.
Study of the different forms of water
The new estimate is based on very detailed comments in slightly different forms of water, the more familiar formed of an oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms (H2O), and semi-heavy water (HDO) wherein one of the hydrogen atoms is replaced by deuterium.
Using the Keck telescope 2 infrared NASA in Hawaii, and a powerful European telescope of the European Southern Observatory in Chile, the scientists were able to distinguish between the chemical signatures of the two types of water. By comparing the ratio of heavy water in semi-normal water that researchers were able to deduce the amount of water that had escaped into space. They performed their measurements repeatedly for six years, about three Martian years.
The map they produced also reveals the seasonal changes on Mars and microclimates, even if the planet is now a vast desert. These scientists were especially interested in the areas near the poles, which are the largest water reservoir of Mars, now in the form of ice. "With Mars lost so much water, the planet was most likely wet longer estimated previously, suggesting that it could have been living longer," said Michael Mumma, a scientist at Goddard, co-author of these work.
Before this study, it was estimated that the hot and humid period had ended in March there are about 3.7 billion years. It is also possible that Mars contained in the past even more water, part of which would have seeped below the surface, are these researchers.
According to them, the new maps of water ratios that reveal microclimates and fluctuations in the amounts of water in the atmosphere could be useful in the search for bodies of water in the basement.
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