Mars polar cap may hide water reserve
(CNN) -- A permanent cache of frozen water probably lies underneath the seasonal cap of carbon dioxide that covers the north pole of Mars, planetary scientists announced Tuesday.
The conclusion is based on data from a NASA satellite orbiting the red planet, the Mars Odyssey, which watched the seasonal polar cap shrink between winter and spring this year.
The observations offered evidence that a "water-ice-rich permanent terrain" underlies a frosty cap of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, Mars Odyssey scientist Bill Feldman and colleagues said in statement.
Feldman, a researcher at the Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico, presented the findings Tuesday at the American Astronomical Society's Division of Planetary Science conference in Birmingham, Alabama.
Society spokesman Ellis Miner said the Odyssey observations provided strong physical support for what scientists previously had only theorized.
"The polar region seems to retain water ice year-round, and the dry ice forms on top of it in the winter," said Miner, also a NASA planetary scientist. "As the spring warms the pole, the dry ice begins to evaporate and becomes part of the atmosphere.
"Most of that part scientists believed all along. The difference now is we have some specific measurements that verify it, that give us some details we didn't have before."
The Mars Odyssey, which arrived at the red planet in October 2001, is equipped with an infrared imager, mineral mapper and groundwater detector.
The NASA spacecraft has detected vast stores of suspected water ice in other areas of the red planet as well, including the south polar region.
While cold, barren and mostly dry on the surface now, Mars might once have teemed with oceans and possibly life billions of years ago, scientists theorize.
Moreover, in recent years, detailed images from another red planet satellite, NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, have provided visual evidence that water might still seep to the surface on occasion.
在线翻译，不够完美！
( CNN) -- 一结冰的水的永久的高速缓存或许在覆盖火星的北极的二氧化碳的随季节变化的帽子下面躺，行星的科学家星期二宣布。 结论基于来自一个NASA 卫星绕红的行星，火星长久的冒险旅行的轨道运行的数据， 哪个观看随季节变化的极地的帽子在冬天之间缩小，和今年春天。 那些报告提供一种" 水冰丰富的永久的地形" 为一顶结冰的二氧化碳或者干冰的严寒的帽子的基础的证据， 火星长久的冒险旅行科学家比尔·费尔德曼和同事在陈述过程中说。 费尔德曼，一个研究人员在新墨西哥在洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室，在伯明翰在美国天文的社会的行星的科学会议的歧异星期二提出结论， 亚拉巴马。 社会发言人埃利斯矿工说那些长久的冒险旅行报告对科学家以前仅仅已经创立学说了的提供强大的物理支持。 " 极地的地区好像一年到头保留水冰，在冬天，在它之上，和那些干冰形式，" 矿工说， 此外一位NASA 行星的科学家。 "当春天使这根杆暖，干冰开始使空气的部分脱水并且变得。 "大多数那部分科学家始终相信。 我们现在被有检验它什么时候发出我们一些细节我们不以前有的一些具体尺寸的不同。 " 火星长久的冒险旅行，在2001 年10月到达红的行星，安装有一个红外的imager，矿物质映射程序和地下水检波器。 NASA 航天器也已经在红的行星的其它地区查明怀疑的水冰的巨大的商店，包括南方极地的地区。 当冷时，无意义和主要干燥现在关于表面，火星可能一旦有很多海洋和也许生活几十亿年以前，科学家创立学说。 而且，近年来，从另一个红的行星卫星， NASA 的火星表面探测器详述图像， 已经提供水有时仍然可能渗入表面的视觉证据。 |
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