Modeled subglacial water flow routing supports localized intrusive heating as a possible cause of basal melting of Mars' south polar ice cap
International audience The discovery of an ~20‐km‐wide area of bright subsurface radar reflections, interpreted as liquid water, beneath the Martian south polar layered deposits (SPLD) in data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument, and the discovery...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Online Access: | https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375/file/HAL_Arnold_etal_GRL_2019.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JE006061 |
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ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-02268375v1 2023-05-15T16:38:20+02:00 Modeled subglacial water flow routing supports localized intrusive heating as a possible cause of basal melting of Mars' south polar ice cap Arnold, Neil, Conway, S, Butcher, F., Balme, M. Scott Polar Research Institute University of Cambridge UK (CAM) Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique UMR 6112 (LPG) Université d'Angers (UA)-Université de Nantes - UFR des Sciences et des Techniques (UN UFR ST) Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) School of Physical Sciences Milton Keynes Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Milton Keynes The Open University Milton Keynes (OU)-The Open University Milton Keynes (OU) 2019-08 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375/file/HAL_Arnold_etal_GRL_2019.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JE006061 en eng HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1029/2019JE006061 hal-02268375 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375/file/HAL_Arnold_etal_GRL_2019.pdf doi:10.1029/2019JE006061 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 2169-9097 EISSN: 2169-9100 Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375 Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets, Wiley-Blackwell, 2019, 124 (8), pp.2101-2116. ⟨10.1029/2019JE006061⟩ [SDU.STU.PL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Planetology info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2019 ftccsdartic https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JE006061 2021-11-07T01:42:23Z International audience The discovery of an ~20‐km‐wide area of bright subsurface radar reflections, interpreted as liquid water, beneath the Martian south polar layered deposits (SPLD) in data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument, and the discovery of two geologically recent potential eskers (landforms produced by subglacial melt) associated with viscous flow features in Martian midlatitudes, has suggested recent basal melting of Martian ice deposits may be feasible, possibly due to locally elevated geothermal heating. Locations of terrestrial subglacial lakes and major drainage axes have been successfully predicted from subglacial hydraulic potential surfaces calculated from surface topography and ice thickness. Here, we use surface topography from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter and SPLD bed elevations derived from MARSIS data to calculate the subglacial hydraulic potential surface beneath the SPLD and determine whether the observed high reflectance area coincides with predicted subglacial lake locations. Given the sensitivity of terrestrial predictions of lake locations to basal topography, we derive over 1,000 perturbed topographies (using noise statistics from the MARSIS data) to infer the most likely locations of possible subglacial water bodies and drainage axes. Our results show that the high reflectance area does not coincide with any substantial predicted lake locations; three nearby lake locations are robustly predicted however. We interpret this result as suggesting that the high reflectance area (assuming the interpretation as liquid is correct) is most likely a hydraulically isolated patch of liquid confined by the surrounding cold‐based ice, rather than a topographically‐constrained subglacial lake. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice cap Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 124 8 2101 2116 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) |
op_collection_id |
ftccsdartic |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU.STU.PL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Planetology |
spellingShingle |
[SDU.STU.PL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Planetology Arnold, Neil, Conway, S, Butcher, F., Balme, M. Modeled subglacial water flow routing supports localized intrusive heating as a possible cause of basal melting of Mars' south polar ice cap |
topic_facet |
[SDU.STU.PL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Planetology |
description |
International audience The discovery of an ~20‐km‐wide area of bright subsurface radar reflections, interpreted as liquid water, beneath the Martian south polar layered deposits (SPLD) in data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument, and the discovery of two geologically recent potential eskers (landforms produced by subglacial melt) associated with viscous flow features in Martian midlatitudes, has suggested recent basal melting of Martian ice deposits may be feasible, possibly due to locally elevated geothermal heating. Locations of terrestrial subglacial lakes and major drainage axes have been successfully predicted from subglacial hydraulic potential surfaces calculated from surface topography and ice thickness. Here, we use surface topography from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter and SPLD bed elevations derived from MARSIS data to calculate the subglacial hydraulic potential surface beneath the SPLD and determine whether the observed high reflectance area coincides with predicted subglacial lake locations. Given the sensitivity of terrestrial predictions of lake locations to basal topography, we derive over 1,000 perturbed topographies (using noise statistics from the MARSIS data) to infer the most likely locations of possible subglacial water bodies and drainage axes. Our results show that the high reflectance area does not coincide with any substantial predicted lake locations; three nearby lake locations are robustly predicted however. We interpret this result as suggesting that the high reflectance area (assuming the interpretation as liquid is correct) is most likely a hydraulically isolated patch of liquid confined by the surrounding cold‐based ice, rather than a topographically‐constrained subglacial lake. |
author2 |
Scott Polar Research Institute University of Cambridge UK (CAM) Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique UMR 6112 (LPG) Université d'Angers (UA)-Université de Nantes - UFR des Sciences et des Techniques (UN UFR ST) Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) School of Physical Sciences Milton Keynes Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Milton Keynes The Open University Milton Keynes (OU)-The Open University Milton Keynes (OU) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Arnold, Neil, Conway, S, Butcher, F., Balme, M. |
author_facet |
Arnold, Neil, Conway, S, Butcher, F., Balme, M. |
author_sort |
Arnold, Neil, |
title |
Modeled subglacial water flow routing supports localized intrusive heating as a possible cause of basal melting of Mars' south polar ice cap |
title_short |
Modeled subglacial water flow routing supports localized intrusive heating as a possible cause of basal melting of Mars' south polar ice cap |
title_full |
Modeled subglacial water flow routing supports localized intrusive heating as a possible cause of basal melting of Mars' south polar ice cap |
title_fullStr |
Modeled subglacial water flow routing supports localized intrusive heating as a possible cause of basal melting of Mars' south polar ice cap |
title_full_unstemmed |
Modeled subglacial water flow routing supports localized intrusive heating as a possible cause of basal melting of Mars' south polar ice cap |
title_sort |
modeled subglacial water flow routing supports localized intrusive heating as a possible cause of basal melting of mars' south polar ice cap |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375/file/HAL_Arnold_etal_GRL_2019.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JE006061 |
genre |
Ice cap |
genre_facet |
Ice cap |
op_source |
ISSN: 2169-9097 EISSN: 2169-9100 Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375 Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets, Wiley-Blackwell, 2019, 124 (8), pp.2101-2116. ⟨10.1029/2019JE006061⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1029/2019JE006061 hal-02268375 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02268375/file/HAL_Arnold_etal_GRL_2019.pdf doi:10.1029/2019JE006061 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JE006061 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets |
container_volume |
124 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
2101 |
op_container_end_page |
2116 |
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1766028614942326784 |