Astronomers find dust-covered belts of glaciers made of frozen water on Mars

Astronomers have found dust-covered belts of glaciers made of frozen water on Mars.

Mars has distinct polar ice caps, but Mars also has belts of glaciers at its central latitudes in both the southern and northern hemispheres. A thick layer of dust covers the glaciers, so they appear as surface of the ground, but radar measurements show that underneath the dust there are glaciers composed of frozen water.

New studies have now calculated the size of the glaciers and thus the amount of water in the glaciers. It was equivalent of all of Mars being covered by more than one meter of ice.

Several satellites orbit Mars and on satellite images, researchers have been able to observe the shape of glaciers just below the surface. For a long time scientists did not know if the ice was made of frozen water (H2O) or of carbon dioxide (CO2) or whether it was mud. Using radar measurements from the NASA satellite, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers have been able to determine that it was water ice.

A group of researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have now calculated this using radar observations combined with ice flow modelling. Using radar measurements from the NASA satellite, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers have been able to identify thousands of glacier-like formations on Mars. The study is published in the scientific journal, Geophysical Research Letter.