New Study Reveals Harsh Climate on Mars

The Curiosity rover explored Mount Sharp, the largest sediment stack on Mars, and found evidence that some carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere may have been stored in sedimentary rocks, similar to limestone on Earth. This process could have removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, reducing the greenhouse effect that warmed the planet.

Based on these discoveries, a team of scientists led by Benjamin Tutolo from the University of Calgary suggested that Mars had a carbon cycle that could support the presence of liquid water on its surface. Building on this research, Edwin Kite and his team from the University of Chicago developed the first Martian climate model incorporating these findings. The model considered Martian topography, solar luminosity, orbital data, and other factors to predict the evolution of Martian conditions over 3.5 billion years.

Their findings indicate that any potential Martian life would have faced challenging conditions.

Martian seas

Kite's team's model uniquely captured the long-term evolution of Martian climate and landscape. Tutolo, a co-author of the study, mentioned that the model was developed over the past few years alongside research on carbonate rocks.

Previous models lacked spatial resolution, treating Mars as a single pixel evolving over billions of years. In contrast, high-resolution models accounting for terrain details could only simulate short time spans. Kite's team claims to have built the first spatially resolved, long-term climate evolution model for Mars. The model began its simulation 3.5 billion years ago, marking the start of what Kite termed the 'era of salts' on Mars.

According to the source: Ars Technica.