Forest on Mars !?!?

Originally posted by blue bird
* there is a big variation in temparature

I was originally talking about the difference in temperature between the North Summer and the South Summer because of the talk about the bigger possibility of finding life near the South pole.

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
NASA, that is who. Well...they say that the atmoshpere is thin.

OH THOSE GUYS

Clouds on Mars drifting by....

Originally posted by zorgon

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
NASA, that is who. Well...they say that the atmoshpere is thin.

OH THOSE GUYS

Clouds on Mars drifting by....

So, then...my question would be if we know that there is water ,and we know that there are clouds, and obviously wind blows these clouds...what other options are there?

Can anyone chime in on this response? If you want to provide any alternative theories, please do....i can't see any other options than that there is much more atmosphere on Mars. But, you didn't have to convince me.

Wow Zorgon - fantastic scene with these Martian clouds... just great

.....Mars-Earth parallels:

Shall we recognize in Mars all that makes our own world so well fitted for our wants – land and water, mountain and valley, cloud and sunshine, rain and ice, and snow, rivers and lakes, ocean currents and wind currents, without believing further in the existence of those forms of life without which all of these things would be wasted? ... it is yet to speculate ten thousand times more rashly to assert ... that Mars is a barren waste, either wholly untenanted by living creatures, or inhabited by beings belonging to the lowest orders of animated existence.

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RAIN !?

Aptly-named Mojave crater in the Xanthe Terra region has alluvial fans that look remarkably similar to landforms in the Mojave Desert of southeastern California and portions of Nevada and Arizona. Alluvial fans are fan-shaped deposits of water-transported material (alluvium). They typically form at the base of hills or mountains where there is a marked break, or flattening of slope. They typically deposit big rocks near their mouths (close to the mountains) and smaller rocks at greater distances. Alluvial fans form as a result of heavy desert downpours, typically thundershowers. Because deserts are poorly vegetated, heavy and short-lived downpours create a great deal of erosion and nearby deposition. There are fans inside and around the outsides of Mojave crater on Mars that perfectly match the morphology of alluvial fans on Earth, with the exception of a few small impact craters dotting this Martian landscape. Channels begin at the apex of topographic ridges, consistent . This remarkable landscape was first discovered from Mars Orbital Camera images. Mars researchers have suggested that impact-induced atmospheric precipitation may have created these unique landscapes.

HIRSE





* original image:






[edit on 22-5-2007 by blue bird]

Just look athe this “mysterious“ dune gullies // Russel Crater - it is seeping all over....

And this unbelievable freshness coming from that image...




* original image MSSS

Formation of Martian Gullies by the Action of Liquid Water Flowing under Current Martian Environmental Conditions



J.L. Heldmann (NASA Ames Research Center), O.B. Toon (University of Colorado), W.H. Pollard (McGill University), M.T. Mellon, J. Pitlick (University of Colorado), C.P. McKay (NASA Ames Research Center), D.T. Andersen (SETI)



Geomorphic evidence suggests that recent gullies on Mars were formed by fluvial activity. Irrespective of the ultimate source of the fluid carving the gullies, we seek to understand the behavior of this fluid after it reaches the Martian surface. We numerically simulate the flow of liquid water within gully channels to determine whether liquid water can flow over sufficient distances to carve the observed channels and to place constraints on the flow rate and salinity of the water. This model is first developed to simulate a well-observed terrestrial example of channel flow in the High Canadian Arctic. This model is then applied to Mars.

We find that, contrary to popular belief, the fluvially-carved Martian gullies are consistent with formation conditions such as now occur on Mars, outside of the temperature-pressure stability regime of liquid water. Our model of the action of flowing pure liquid water produces the observed gully length distribution only at surface pressures and temperatures below the triple point where liquid water simultaneously boils and freezes and thus suggests that gullies were formed under conditions similar to present-day Mars. Numerical simulations show that pure liquid water flowing at rates of 15-60 m3/s is consistent with the observations of the gullies. The formation of gullies on Mars is inconsistent with briny fluid flows with significant flow rates because inhibiting rapid evaporation by vapor pressure suppression (or other means such as ice sheets capping the flow, or a higher pressure climate state) results in channels that are much longer than those observed on Mars. Instead, our model indicates that these fluvially-carved gullies formed in the low temperature and low pressure conditions of present day Mars by the action of relatively pure liquid water.

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[edit on 22-5-2007 by blue bird]

What exactly can we know from the images ?

Well, who would guess - that is is Opportunity airbag landed in Eagle crater..





source: NASA

*and here is Vicking back shell



* Viking heat shield


*Viking lander



source : NASA

[edit on 22-5-2007 by blue bird]

Colonies of cyanobacteria on stromatolites!?


* Mars


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*Earth



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* Mars

A circular pattern can be seen at the center of this image, made by the Spirit rover's Microscopic Imager. Compare its appearance with the earthly lichen pictured below.

*Earth
terrestrial foliose lichen




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The first impression I got — based on the morphology alone — was how similar it looked to a common terrestrial foliose lichen," said Barry DiGregorio, a research associate for the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology in the United Kingdom

This Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) "targeted image" shows a region of sand dunes surrounding the Martian north polar cap. CRISM, an instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, acquired the image at 1811 UTC (2:11 p.m. EDT) on Oct. 1, 2006. The imaged site is near 80.0 degrees north latitude, 240.7 degrees east longitude. It covers an area about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) square. At the center of the image, the spatial resolution is as good as 20 meters (65 feet) per pixel. The image was taken in 544 colors covering 0.36 to 3.92 micrometers.

“This visualization includes two renderings of the data, both map-projected. The left images are false-color representations showing brightness of the surface at selected infrared wavelengths. The right images show strength of an absorption band at 1900 nanometers wavelength, which indicates the relative abundance of the sulfate mineral gypsum. Brighter areas have more gypsum, and darker areas have less gypsum. The bottom views are enlargements of the central part of the two versions of the image shown at top.

Gypsum is a light-colored, whitish mineral, so it was anticipated that gypsum-rich parts of the sand dunes would be light in color. In fact, there are light-colored areas in the left images, but the images of the gypsum absorption at right show that the light areas have only low gypsum abundance. The dark sand dunes contain most of the gypsum, which is particularly concentrated at the dune crests. CRISM's scientists are taking more high-resolution images of the dune fields to see if this pattern is prevalent, and to attempt to track down the source of the gypsum that makes an arid dune field so rich in minerals formed long ago in liquid water.“
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GYPSUM -

Gypsum is a very soft mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate............Gypsum is deposited in lake and sea water, as well as in hot springs, from volcanic vapors, and sulfate solutions in veins. Hydrothermal anhydrite in veins is commonly hydrated to gypsum by groundwater in near surface exposures..............................Because gypsum dissolves over time in water, gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand. However, the unique conditions of the White Sands National Monument in the US state of New Mexico

NEW MEXICO:


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Is topology of Deutronilus Mensae region case for ex -ocean!?





...shorelines.... the smoothness of the “ocean“ basin....depth of the valleys (800 - 1200 m).... canal continuity----huge “dark“ depression more than 2 km in depth and 110 km in diameter...


_ new images by ESA:




source:ESA

Originally posted by blue bird
Colonies of cyanobacteria on stromatolites!?


* Mars


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*Earth



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You are looking at a picture from the orbit from mars and comparing it to a rock from earth? Are you kidding me? Im pretty damn sure you have a "slight" scaling problem with the earth and mars pictures, or please let me know what the scale of the mars picture is compared to the earth one... Im not saying the stuff in mars aint green, im saying you cant compare a rock in your hand with a picture thats pixel is half a meter at the best resolutions and tens or hundreds of meters on the strip youve linked.

[edit on 22-5-2007 by Gonjo]

No, Gonjo - idea was to show that darker area cold be some kind of simple , primordial bacteria ...lichen or aglae or fungus.

As can be see in here - image of Kluane national park in Yukon :

This band combination shows rock in blue, water in black and vegetated areas in browns, oranges and light greens.

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Or lichen on rock - like this - from up it would be surely different in texture and coloration - as are this many kind of “dark“ spots on Mars!




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* or lichen on limestone:






- or something like this:



wiki

Yeah ofcourse its most likely something like that will be around the steamvents linked earlier in this thread I think atleast... I just kinda found it odd when you had an orbital pictures colored to match the colors on a single rock.

Wasnt trying to say it was impossible just that the scale of the mars example picture was so off it was silly. Its pretty much impossible to say for sure anything about the form of life but it would make sense for the kind of plantlife like you said, lichen and so on, to be the ones who would be most likely to blame for the different shades of the "rocks" in the meltdown areas.

Ive been trying to think of any reason why the dry as bone rocks and cliffs and mountainsides would be like they were washed yesterday or like they had a thick coat of something covering them and without something living or atleast some water it seems highly unlikely how the pictures would make any sense.

Also I took a part in the "mission" to mark some pictures for HiRISE and found few interesting ones to say the least.

Heres the link for the picture viewing and marking for stuff:
clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov...

And heres some "interesting" pics I came across while "working" for them. Well atleast I think they are, and thats more than I could ask for really, new interesting stuff to look at and try to figure out what to make of.





I havent done anything to those pics they are as they were. Not really any massive trees or maybe there is? but I found them to be interesting to say the least.

[edit on 22-5-2007 by Gonjo]

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
the question i have about this image:




Is where does the stuff that makes up the ice go, and how does it return? Without an atmosphere one would expect that it would dissipate into space, correct?

Well there IS an atmosphere, just a thin one. I will see if I can find a NASA fact sheet on what they say the composition is...

But that picture above I am REALLY curious about that black ring!!! In the center image you can see it just below the ice, then it really stands out in the last image

Originally posted by MicheleLee
I did enjoy the below video (presentation is nice) and hope you enjoy it to.
Maximize it to see it better.

Nice addition, thanks.

Skipper has been busy

Originally posted by zorgon

But that picture above I am REALLY curious about that black ring!!! In the center image you can see it just below the ice, then it really stands out in the last image

That is an interesting point. One would wonder what the parallel on Earth would be? I wonder....do we have any decent polar images anywhere while the ice sheet is dissipated? I can't really find any...but I don't have your breadth of sources, either.

Bwahahahahah I bet you its the entrance to the Hollow Mars... and we can't see the one on Earth because more snow needs to melt first... And seeing as global warming is taking care of that maybe we will know soon..

I did see the one on Saturn, but that one is a hexagon

In the meantime lets have a look at some more weather phenomenon on that almost airless world, shall we?


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And this one has got to be the best yet...


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NASA speak with forked tongue, methinks


[edit on 23-5-2007 by zorgon]

Originally posted by Gonjo
Yeah ofcourse its most likely something like that will be around the steamvents linked earlier in this thread I think atleast... I just kinda found it odd when you had an orbital pictures colored to match the colors on a single rock.

Wasnt trying to say it was impossible just that the scale of the mars example picture was so off it was silly. Its pretty much impossible to say for sure anything about the form of life but it would make sense for the kind of plantlife like you said, lichen and so on, to be the ones who would be most likely to blame for the different shades of the "rocks" in the meltdown areas.

And, again it was not matching in color or size - just showing image up close of type of organism that could be in that “dark spots“ all over Mars - especially “blooming“ during late winter and spring time.

And I am not the only one - astrobiologist are doing experiments in low orbit and simulating space conditions with lichen - it is one hell of a good candidate...

Lichen come immediately on mind - because of its ability to survive harsh conditions... Lichens were tested in orbit 8260 m- 340 km above the Earth) and it was discovered that they were very stable in space conditions. When there is no water and lichen is becoming dry - it goes immediately to dormant state - and wait for more favorable situation.

But in a recent study by European scientists, lichen survived a trip in space even better than bacteria do.

All the lichen we have subjected to space or to space-simulated conditions have survived. After we put them in favorable conditions where they could recuperate, they exhibited high photosynthetic activity. We were surprised that the lichen reactivate so soon after exposure, and that there were no significant changes in the photosynthetic activity before and after exposure.

more.....

And because lichen does not need a lot of water - they could use DROPLETS IN WATER VAPOR - I mean all this clouds...and fog...and frost...



***
And what is this white thing with shadow (don't know the altitude)?

Yes I noticed that one as well... It must be tall judging by the length of that shadow...

Looks a lot like this one on the moon

Originally posted by Gonjo
Also I took a part in the "mission" to mark some pictures for HiRISE and found few interesting ones to say the least.

I don't have time to work on that 'mission" as well, but here is one I would like to submit to them and get an explanation for... Perhaps you would take on the task? This was originally found by Mike Singh




Its from this HiRISE image that Bluebird labeled "Rain?"



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