Apr. 13, 2000 Two new photo mosaics, created with images from
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft now in orbit at Mars, may
help scientists understand what materials make up the exotic,
multi- layers of the South Pole. Scientists theorize that the
thickness and the composition of the layers in the south polar
region could hold a record of climate change in a way that is
similar to how years of drought and years of plentiful rain
change the width of rings in a tree trunk on Earth. Because the
south polar terrain is so strange and new to human eyes, no one
as yet has an entirely adequate explanation as to what is being
seen. The layers may be made up of frozen carbon dioxide, water
ice and fine dusts that have been eroded over time. The mosaics
were produced by imaging team scientists at the U.S. Geological
Survey, Flagstaff, AZ and the California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, CA. The Global Surveyor images are
available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov and
http://www.msss.com. Mars Global Surveyor i