Researchers have found evidence of gigantic sand waves, often called “megaripples,” moving slowly on the surface of Mars, such as Science reports.
Megaripples are not exclusive to Mars; they can also be found in deserts here on Earth. But the colossal sand dunes of the Red Planet, believed to have formed hundreds of thousands of years ago, could be a sign that the winds on Mars are even stronger than previously believed.
In an article published last month in the Geophysical Research Magazine: Planets, the team suggests that the megaripples may be migrating thanks to the small grains of sand that hit the larger grains, dragging them in motion.
The new research runs counter to current atmospheric models that suggest the winds might not be strong enough on Mars to move these mega-sand structures. In other words, a thin atmosphere can allow surprisingly strong winds.
Using images taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the international team of scientists took a closer look. Focusing on two sites near the Martian equator, they analyzed a total of 1,100 megaripples.
Scientists previously believed that these megaripples on the Red Planet were first formed a long time ago, when a thicker atmosphere allowed for much heavier winds, and they were now stationary.
But to their surprise, they discovered that megaripples actually appear to be moving, albeit at a slow rate of about 10 centimeters per Earth year. According to Science, that’s almost as fast as the megaripples in the Lut desert in Iran.
The surprising thing: the winds could be strong enough after all, despite the thin Martian atmosphere. “A past climate with a denser atmosphere is not necessary to explain its accumulation and migration,” the team concluded in their article.
And that’s bad news for future astronauts visiting the Red Planet, as windy conditions could end up altering habitats and solar panels.
However, it is a surprising new discovery about our planetary neighbor.
“We can now measure processes on the surface of another planet that are only a couple of times faster than our hair grows,” said Ralph Lorenz, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who was not involved in the study. Science.
READ MORE: Great waves of sand move on Mars[[[[Science]
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