PERSPECTIVES
Cite as: A. Diez, Science
Liquid water on Mars
By Anja Diez
Norwegian Polar Institute, 9296 Tromso, Norway. Email: anja.diez@npolar.no
A water body exists below the martian south polar ice cap
Without water, no form of life as we know it could exist. There
is therefore great interest in detecting liquid water on other
planets of our Solar System. Landforms such as dry river
valleys and lakes show that liquid water must have been
present on Mars in the past (1). Nowadays, small amounts of
gaseous water exist in the martian atmosphere, and some
water ice is found on the planet’s surface. Water droplets were
seen condensing onto the Phoenix lander (2), and there may
be reoccurring water activity on slopes during the martian
summer (3). However, stable bodies of liquid water have not
been found on Mars. Published in Science’s First Release this
week, Orosei et al. (4) report an analysis of radar data from
the Mars Express mission that shows the existence of stable
liquid water below 1.5 km of ice, close to the martian south
pole.
Ice caps similar to those on Earth exist at the martian
north and south poles, known as the North and South Polar
Layered Deposits (NPLD and SPLD, respectively). More than
30 years ago, Clifford hypothesized that liquid water might be
present below the martian polar ice caps (5). Despite mean
annual air temperatures of around −60°C, lakes exist below
Earth’s Antarctic ice sheet (6). Glacier ice insulates the bed
from the cold surface. Thus, temperatures at the base of the
Antarctic ice sheet, which may be as thick as 4.8 km, can reach
the pressure melting point of water; the melting point is re-
duced owing to the pressure of the ice layer above. Water at
the ice base reduces basal friction, leading to increased flow
speeds. Finding liquid water below the martian ice caps might
solve ongoing debates about whether the NPLD ice flow is due
to ice deformation, deformation of the bed, or gliding over the
bed or whether it is not flowing at all (7).
Water below the Antarctic ice sheet has been detected and
analyzed by using radar waves that are transmitted actively
above the surface. As the electromagnetic radar waves pass
downward through the ice, they are reflected back at the in-
terfaces between different materials, such as contacts be-
tween ice and bedrock, sediment, or liquid water (see the
figure). Along a flight track, measurements are continuously
carried out to form an image of the subsurface. Such a radar-
gram shows reflectors from the surface and the base and often
multiple weaker reflections from within the ice body. The ra-
dar wave reflection is stronger from a water interface
First release: 25 July 2018
10.1126/science.aau1829 (2018).
than from a rock or sediment interface and therefore shows
up as a relatively bright reflector in the radargram.
Orosei et al. now apply this method to data from Mars. The
Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sound-
ing (MARSIS) instrument on the Mars Express spacecraft col-
lected radar measurements over the SPLD. Orosei et al.
Downloaded from http://science.sciencemag.org/ on July 25, 2018
identify a distinct 20-km-wide bright reflector on multiple
profiles collected over 3 years. They rule out a number of pos-
sible explanations for this bright reflector, leaving the exist-
ence of liquid water, either as a distinct water layer or as
saturated sediments, as the only explanation.
It is even colder on Mars than in Antarctica. Temperatures
at the base of the SPLD are estimated to be around −68°C (7),
and thus, pure liquid water could not exist there under 1.5 km
of ice. However, liquid water may still exist because the freez-
ing point of water is far lower if large amounts of salts are
dissolved in the water. Such brine lakes have been found on
Earth, with salinities of up to 200 practical salinity units (psu)
in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (8). There, water re-
mains liquid down to temperatures of −13°C. For comparison,
ocean water has a salinity between 32 and 37 psu and freezes
at about −2°C.
Salts of sodium, magnesium, and calcium have been found
on the martian surface and can reduce the melting point of
water to −74°C (7, 9); when in contact with ice, the salts can
suppress the freezing point enough for liquid water to form
(7, 10). The droplets observed on the Phoenix lander and the
observed reoccurring water activity on slopes were explained
by the presence of such briny water (5, 10). Briny water can
also explain Orosei et al.’s observation of a stable water body
below the SPLD.
In the future, with higher-resolution data, smaller liquid
water bodies that influence the ice flow might be detectable
below martian ice caps. Like Earth’s ice sheets, the martian
ice caps are important climate archives. Depending on the cli-
mate, the ice caps grow and shrink as a result of depositional
and erosional events. This creates a unique stratigraphy
within the ice caps, consisting of layers of equal age that sci-
entists can analyze to derive information about past climate.
Changes in ice flow owing to water at the base can change the
appearance of these englacial layers; this needs to be consid-
ered when reconstructing their age. Analyzing these englacial
www.sciencemag.org (Page numbers not final at time of first release) 1
reflectors, taking the new findings of liquid water below the
SPLD into account, can therefore help unravel the climate his-
tory of Mars.
REFERENCES AND NOTES
1. V. R. Baker et al., Nature 352, 589 (1991). doi:10.1038/352589a0
2. P. H. Smith et al., Science 325, 58 (2009). doi:10.1126/science.1172339 Medline
3. L. Ojha et al., Nat. Geosci. 8, 829 (2015). doi:10.1038/ngeo2546
4. R. Orosei et al., Science 10.1126/science.aar7268 (2018).
5. S. M. Clifford, J. Geophys. Res. 92, 9135 (1987). doi:10.1029/JB092iB09p09135
6. M. J. Siegert, N. Ross, A. M. Le Brocq, Philos. Trans. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci. 374,
20140306 (2016). doi:10.1098/rsta.2014.0306 Medline
7. D. A. Fisher, M. H. Hecht, S. P. Kounaves, D. C. Catling, J. Geophys. Res. 115, E00E12
(2010). doi:10.1029/2009JE003405
8. A. E. Murray et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 109, 20626 (2012).
doi:10.1073/pnas.1208607109 Medline
9. M. H. Hecht et al., Science 325, 64 (2009). doi:10.1126/science.1172466 Medline
10. E. Fischer, G. M. Martínez, H. M. Elliott, N. O. Rennó, Geophys. Res. Lett. 41, 4456

Downloaded from http://science.sciencemag.org/ on July 25, 2018

(2014). doi:10.1002/2014GL060302 Medline

Published online 25 July 2018

10.1126/science.aau1829

First release: 25 July 2018 www.sciencemag.org (Page numbers not final at time of first release) 2
 Downloaded from http://science.sciencemag.org/ on July 25, 2018

First release: 25 July 2018 www.sciencemag.org (Page numbers not final at time of first release) 3
Liquid water on Mars
Anja Diez

published online July 25, 2018

ARTICLE TOOLS http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2018/07/24/science.aau1829

Downloaded from http://science.sciencemag.org/ on July 25, 2018

REFERENCES This article cites 9 articles, 4 of which you can access for free
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2018/07/24/science.aau1829#BIBL

PERMISSIONS http://www.sciencemag.org/help/reprints-and-permissions

Use of this article is subject to the Terms of Service

Science (print ISSN 0036-8075; online ISSN 1095-9203) is published by the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005. 2017 © The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee
American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. The title Science is a
registered trademark of AAAS.