Study based on Chinese rover data finds Martian climate drastically changed 400,000 years ago

A study based on the data collected by China’s Zhurong Mars rover shows evidence that the planet underwent a major shift around 400,000 years ago which also coincides with the end of the last glacial period. The study was published in the journal, Nature, last week.

What was the research about?

The study was conducted by a team of scientists from the National Astronomical Observatories, Institute of Geology and Geophysics and Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in collaboration with Brown University, United States.

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The researchers used the Mars rover’s instruments as well as high-resolution observations from the Chinese Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter to study the large sand dunes near where Zhurong landed around two years ago.

The team of scientists led by Li Chunlai from the National Astronomical Observatories studied the surface structure and chemical composition of Martian dunes to determine their age as well as wind directions at different locations near the Chinese Mars rover.

While previous studies suggested that the Martian climate changed over the years, it had been difficult to directly measure and sample the geological formations on Mars which limited the scientists’ ability to better understand the planet’s climate processes.

The phenomenon of the crescent shape of dunes eroding over hundreds of thousand years and long dark ridges, called transverse aeolian ridges (TARs) which form on top of those dune fields, has been observed all across Mars at lower mid-latitudes.

However, it was the absence of a general atmospheric circulation, which describes the direction of the winds, and scientists have been unable to explain how these features were formed.

Therefore, the study is said to have been designed in a way which would integrate rover-scale data of dune formations and weather conditions, which would confirm the change in the prevailing wind direction with the close of the last ice age as well as improve general circulation models.

Li’s team used high-resolution orbital cameras as well as Zhurong rover’s terrain and multispectral cameras, surface composition analysers and meteorological measuring instruments whichhelped them obtain ‘in situ data’ (data collected adjacent to the measuring instrument) directly from the Martian surface.

What did the scientists find?

The researchers used the orbital data from Tianwen-1 and observed 2,262 bright dunes across Mars and based on the number of craters which might have struck the top of dunes, estimated that they were formed sometime between 2.1 million and 400,000 years ago.

These dates coincide with the start and end of Mars’ last major ice age. The research team has attributed the change in the angle of the rotational axis of Mars to the planet’s exit from the most recent ice age.

The current geological era on Mars is known as the Amazonian epoch, which began 3.55 and 1.8 billion years ago and continues to this day; it is also said to be marked by a number of impacts over that time.

“Understanding the Amazonian climate is essential to explain the current Martian landscape, volatile matter reservoirs and atmospheric state, and to relate these current observations and active processes to models of the ancient climate of Mars,” said Li, in a statement.

He added, “Observations of the current climate of Mars can help refine physical models of Martian climate and landscape evolution, and even form new paradigms.”

Li also said that they will continue to study both Amazonian and present-day climate in a bid “to promote the knowledge regarding the last two billion years of Martian climate history, including its environment and processes.”

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