Northern Midlatitude Ice Exposed in Craters on Mars

Abstract

Mars potentially contains a vast reservoir of buried water ice resources. Understanding the distribution and origins of these resources has become increasingly important due to the plans for a future manned mission to Mars. The northern mid latitude region of Mars is a prime candidate for future landing sites and has a widespread presence of ice. In this study, two northern mid latitude craters are analyzed; one of the craters has a confirmed ice exposing scarp, while the other does not. Analysis of temperature, thermal inertia, multispectral imaging, and geologic features have led to the conclusion that the non-confirmed crater does have ice exposing scarps. In depth multispectral imaging from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer provides data for analysis that reveals exposed nearly pure water ice in Crater 1, and a mixture of water and carbon dioxide ice in Crater 2. Crater Size Frequency Distribution plots suggest that Crater 1 is about 100 million years old. This crater is interpreted to be much older due to active resurfacing from sublimation thermokarst features. The subsurface ice layer is believed to be much older than the craters exposing it. It is likely that the ice sheets were initially deposited from ancient snow that compacted to form glaciers. Recent Mars axis changes in obliquity have led to modifications of the ice sheets both laterally and horizontally.