Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 20 January 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5759, pp. 368 - 371
DOI: 10.1126/science.1120335
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Formation of Glaciers on Mars by Atmospheric Precipitation at High Obliquity

F. Forget,1* R. M. Haberle,2 F. Montmessin,3 B. Levrard,4 J. W. Head5

Surface conditions on Mars are currently cold and dry, with water ice unstable on the surface except near the poles. However, geologically recent glacierlike landforms have been identified in the tropics and the midlatitudes of Mars. The ice has been proposed to originate from either a subsurface reservoir or the atmosphere. We present high-resolution climate simulations performed with a model designed to simulate the present-day Mars water cycle but assuming a 45° obliquity as experienced by Mars a few million years ago. The model predicts ice accumulation in regions where glacier landforms are observed, on the western flanks of the great volcanoes and in the eastern Hellas region. This agreement points to an atmospheric origin for the ice and reveals how precipitation could have formed glaciers on Mars.

1 Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, Université Paris 6 Boite Postale 99, 75252 Paris cedex 05, France.
2 Space Science Division, Mail Stop 245-3, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.
3 Service D'Aéronomie, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, Université Paris 6 Box Postale 102, 75252 Paris cedex 05, France.
4 Astronomie et Systèmes Dynamiques, Institut de Mécanique Céleste, 77 Avenue Denfert Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France.
5 Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: forget{at}lmd.jussieu.fr

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Radar Sounding Evidence for Buried Glaciers in the Southern Mid-Latitudes of Mars.
J. W. Holt, A. Safaeinili, J. J. Plaut, J. W. Head, R. J. Phillips, R. Seu, S. D. Kempf, P. Choudhary, D. A. Young, N. E. Putzig, et al. (2008)
Science 322, 1235-1238
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Formation of gullies on Mars: Link to recent climate history and insolation microenvironments implicate surface water flow origin.
J. W. Head, D. R. Marchant, and M. A. Kreslavsky (2008)
PNAS 105, 13258-13263
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Late Amazonian glaciation at the dichotomy boundary on Mars: Evidence for glacial thickness maxima and multiple glacial phases.
J. L. Dickson, J. W. Head, and D. R. Marchant (2008)
Geology 36, 411-414
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)