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Related: About this forumWhen Oceans Disappear
Mars used to have a body of water bigger than the Arctic Ocean. What happened to it?Nicholas St. FleurMar 16 2015, 2:31 PM ET
...a vast body of water larger than the Arctic Ocean graced the surface of Mars some 4.5 billion years ago. The primitive ocean covered 19 percent of the Red Planets surface and had a volume of more than 5 million cubic miles, according to a paper published this month in Science. But today almost all of that water is gone. The only evidence that an ocean ever existed there is in the planet's polar ice caps.
So what happened to the ocean on Mars?
Thats one of the big mysteries, said Michael Meyer, an astrobiologist and lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program. But he and other scientists have theories. One way a planet could lose its ocean is from a meteorite or asteroid strikeone that doesnt obliterate the planet but instead rips apart its atmosphere. Theres a saying that comets can giveth and comets can taketh awaythat refers to how comets can give water and life, or take it away, Meyer said.
But the prevailing theory, he told me, is that solar winds wick away Marss water from its atmosphere. The sun constantly blasts charged particles from its hot surface toward its celestial bodies. Some planets, like Earth, are protected from the plasma onslaught because they have a magnetic shield that diverts incoming particles around the planet and to its poles. (This is the mechanism that creates dazzling auroras on Earth.) But Mars, unlike Earth, lost its magnetic field at some point in its history. Without the invisible shield, the planet is susceptible to bombarding solar winds. These same winds, the theory goes, are the ones that split exposed water molecules on the surface of Mars's ocean and knocked them into spacelike a cosmic cue ball hitting billiard balls into the side pockets.
So what happened to the ocean on Mars?
Thats one of the big mysteries, said Michael Meyer, an astrobiologist and lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program. But he and other scientists have theories. One way a planet could lose its ocean is from a meteorite or asteroid strikeone that doesnt obliterate the planet but instead rips apart its atmosphere. Theres a saying that comets can giveth and comets can taketh awaythat refers to how comets can give water and life, or take it away, Meyer said.
But the prevailing theory, he told me, is that solar winds wick away Marss water from its atmosphere. The sun constantly blasts charged particles from its hot surface toward its celestial bodies. Some planets, like Earth, are protected from the plasma onslaught because they have a magnetic shield that diverts incoming particles around the planet and to its poles. (This is the mechanism that creates dazzling auroras on Earth.) But Mars, unlike Earth, lost its magnetic field at some point in its history. Without the invisible shield, the planet is susceptible to bombarding solar winds. These same winds, the theory goes, are the ones that split exposed water molecules on the surface of Mars's ocean and knocked them into spacelike a cosmic cue ball hitting billiard balls into the side pockets.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/03/when-oceans-disappear/387898/
And in their comments section there was this little ditty:
cgs
There once was a Martian ocean,
Whose waves mimicked Earthly sea motions,
But without its mag field,
Its fate was thus sealed,
And it left for us only its notion.
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When Oceans Disappear (Original Post)
JimDandy
Mar 2015
OP
longship
(40,416 posts)1. R&K for the little ditty alone, but also for the awesome science. nt
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)2. As The World Turns. The Edge of Night. When Oceans Disappear.
(cue poignant electric organ music with lots of tremolo)
Sharon: "What is it Brad?"
Brad: "Sharon, we've got to talk about..... Mars"
Sharon: Gasp!
Announcer: "Tune in next millennium for..... When Oceans Disappear!"
(cut)
(I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me today. Everything's a lark. Must be the great weather.)
That's so perfect! I like where your mind turns...
Rainy here on the eastern side of WA State