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| Waters of Mars may be spotted on surface in briny trickle, researchers say |
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 Dark trickles on Martian slopes during the planet’s warm months suggest salty water on Mars, according to a report in the journal Science. Researchers noticed that images sent from a camera aboard a U.S. orbiting craft showed stream-like features that disappeared and reappeared according to the seasons. Because salt lowers the temperature at which water freezes, the scientists theorized that where temperatures were too low even during a Martian summer to melt pure water ice, it still may be possible to thaw ice containing salt. “I was baffled when I first saw those features in the images after I had run them through my algorithm,” said Lujendra Ojha, in a statement. He is a study author who as a junior majoring in geophysics at the University of Arizona, discovered the bands by using a change-detecting algorithm on images from the planet. “We soon realized they were different from slope streaks that had been observed before. These are highly seasonal.” The briny liquid may add another clue to help scientists determine whether there is life on Mars, the authors wrote. The team isn’t certain that the trickles are caused by water, though it’s the best explanation, said Alfred McEwen, a professor of planetary geology at the University of Arizona at Tucson, Arizona, and the study’s lead author. Ice has been detected near the surface of some areas on Mars, and if further research confirms today’s findings, this may be the first known liquid water on Mars, the researchers said. The dark, narrow bands that extend down certain Martian slopes are narrower than previously seen gullies, only about 2 feet to 15 feet wide, with lengths of up to hundreds of meters. They aren’t in as many places as the gullies, and are rare on the cold slopes that face the pole. Some of the areas with the flows would be warm enough to keep water as salty as the earth’s ocean liquid, according to the study. The color change isn’t because the slopes are wet, McEwen said in the statement. Rather, the water may rearrange the surface to change the appearance. Why the features change when the temperature does isn’t clear. (Source: Bloomberg)   Socialize this Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch and receive all of TT updates right in your feed reader
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