Facts about Mars's Polar Caps
- 09
Both of Mars's polar caps contain a permanent residual layer of water ice that persists year-round, even as seasonal carbon dioxide frost accumulates and retreats.
- 08
Dust storms across Mars annually deposit dark material onto the polar caps, causing them to absorb more solar radiation and accelerate ice loss.
- 07
At minus 125 degrees Celsius, Mars's polar regions represent the coldest naturally occurring temperatures in our solar system's terrestrial planets.
- 06
Mars's north polar cap loses approximately 100 meters of ice thickness per century due to sublimation, a process measured by comparing orbital imagery from multiple decades.
- 05
The north polar cap's spiral troughs, discovered by Viking orbiters in the 1970s, extend up to 2 kilometers deep and create a distinctive pinwheel pattern visible from space.
- 04
Layered deposits in Mars's north polar cap contain between 1,000 and 2,000 individual strata, each recording a period of atmospheric and climate change spanning thousands of years.
- 03
Radar measurements from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed that Mars's north polar cap contains approximately 1.6 million cubic kilometers of water ice beneath its surface.
- 02
Seasonal changes cause Mars's southern polar cap to shrink by approximately 25 percent during spring and summer, releasing carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere.
- 01
Frozen carbon dioxide comprises approximately 5 percent of Mars's polar caps, with water ice making up the remaining composition.