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 5 December 2003:
Vol. 302. no. 5651, pp. 1694 - 1695
DOI: 10.1126/science.1090517
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Perspectives

PLANETARY SCIENCE:
Learning to Think Like Martians

Maria T. Zuber

Recent observations by the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey spacecraft are providing a clearer understanding of polar processes on Mars. In her Perspective, Zuber reports from a recent conference where high spatial resolution visible and near-infrared images were presented. The images have revealed spectacular geological features formed in association with carbon dioxide (CO2) that as yet defy explanation. Monitoring of the atmosphere and surface over a Mars year has revealed that previous understanding of martian polar processes was greatly oversimplified. Substantial progress is being made on characterizing the content of water ice in the shallow subsurface and in estimating the seasonal exchange of CO2 between the surface and atmosphere.

The author is in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. E-mail: zuber{at}mit.edu

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

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