In Search Of Ocean Heat - 7

Fig. 1 Pelagic Depths

I. Background

It is, compared to the ocean depths, quite easy to find the heat in the atmosphere, the heat on land, and heat at the surface of the ocean.

However, that is not the case within the largest realm on Earth, the Pelagic Zone  (Fig. 1).

In this Dredd Blog series it has been pointed out that ocean heat is difficult to follow as it radiates into the unexplored places of the oceans (In Search Of Ocean Heat, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Other planets have been scientifically studied more than most of these pelagic realms:

"Where do we start? I suggest by making the ocean visible. Although nothing lives there, Mars, the Moon and Venus are better mapped (at about 100m x 100m resolution) than the seafloor, which is home to many of the 90% of a possible two million species in the ocean yet to be described—and along with them valuable novel marine genetic resources. It is often said that you cannot manage what you cannot measure, but equally the case is that you do not measure what you do not value."

(Newsweek, emphasis added). This is misguided and the result of mismanagement, most likely instigated by corporate propaganda and greed (New Continent Found - Garbage Gyre II) which all too often control scientific research efforts (A Falsified Oil-Qaeda Hypothesis Spreads).

Fig. 2 Conservative Temperature (CT)

Fig. 3 Ocean Heat Content (h^O)

II. The Arctic Example

It is easy to follow the impact of global warming in the Arctic.

As it turns out, it is warming more than some other regions:

"Chelsea Wegner was shocked when she landed in Anchorage, Alaska, in July, on her way to a research cruise in the Bering Sea. Smoke from wildfires across the state had darkened the skies, and Anchorage was in the midst of a heatwave that saw temperatures soar past 32 °C [soar past 90°F] for the first time in recorded history.

Wegner, a marine biologist at the University of Maryland in Solomons, also knew that the unusual warmth had melted away nearly all of the sea ice in the Bering Sea. 'It was a really surreal moment,' she says.

Later, while sailing aboard a Canadian icebreaker off the coast of Alaska, Wegner watched walruses swimming in open water — without the ice floes they normally use as a platform to rest, give birth and nurse their young during the Arctic summer."

(Arctic revolution). A lot of the sea animals are, like humans, dying of heat further south ... "not making it" (ABC, Reuters, CNN).

III. How The Ocean Heat Gets "Lost"

The two graphs above (Fig. 2, Fig. 3) detail the trail of Conservative Temperature (CT) and Potential Enthalpy (h^O), otherwise known as Ocean Heat Content and/or Ocean Heat Flux.

Ocean Heat Content is not lost to Dredd Blog software because the best thermodynamic tools for oceanographic research are used (Thermodynamic Equation Of Seawater - 2010, TEOS-10, cf. What every oceanographer needs to know about TEOS-10).

One of the scientists who worked to bring the new standard forth and to replace the old IOS-80 standard has carefully pointed out the problem with current software models:

"The quest in this work is to derive a variable that is conservative, independent of adiabatic changes in pressure, and whose conservation equation is the oceanic version of the first law of thermodynamics. That is, we seek a variable whose advection and diffusion can be interpreted as the advection and diffusion of ‘heat.’ In other words, we seek to answer the question, ‘what is heat’ in the ocean?
...
The variable that is currently used for this purpose in ocean models is potential temperature referenced to the sea surface, θ, but it does not accurately represent the conservation of heat because of (i) the variation of specific heat with salinity and (ii) the dependence of the total differential of enthalpy on variations of salinity.
...
For example, an increase in pressure of 10⁷ Pa (1000 dbar), without exchange of heat or salt, causes a change in enthalpy that is equivalent to about 2.5ЊC. We show in this paper that in contrast to enthalpy, potential enthalpy does have the desired properties to embody the meaning of the first law.
...
Present treatment of oceanic heat fluxes is clearly inconsistent. Ocean models treat potential temperature as a conservative variable and calculate the heat flux across oceanic sections using a constant value of heat capacity. By contrast, heat flux through sections of observed data is often calculated using a variable specific heat multiplying the flux of potential temperature per unit area (Bryan 1962; Macdonald et al. 1994; Saunders 1995; Bacon and Fofonoff 1996). Here it is shown that the theoretical justification of this second approach is flawed on three counts. While the errors involved are small, it is clearly less than satisfactory to have conflicting practices in the observational and modeling parts of physical oceanography, particularly as an accurate and convenient solution can be found.
...
it is perfectly valid to talk of potential enthalpy, h⁰, as the 'heat content' ...”

(In Search Of Ocean Heat). As with "what is the best time to solve global warming" the time to use TEOS-10 is way overdue (The TIME Has Come Today).

IV. Today's Graphs

The two graphs in today's post (Fig. 2, Fig. 3) show that ocean heat is radiating all the way down to the deepest ocean depths.

The Hadopelagic is the deepest, but it is now on average globally, warmer than the Abyssopelagic layer above it (since circa 1952).

In the world of oceanography concerning the thermocline, it is said that "The temperature of the deep ocean drops gradually with depth (Wikipedia)," but in the world of thermodynamics this is not axiomatic, because hot flows to cold (The Ghost Photons, 2, 3).

Ocean heat is radiating to the cooler waters of the deeps, and has been warming them (contrary to pre-global warming textbooks).

V. Closing Comments

The ocean heat content is not lost to TEOS-10, it is hard at work melting the tidewater glaciers that are flowing from the great ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica.

They are melting below the water line at an accelerating rate of 6 to 8 fold (Science Daily, PNAS, cf. video below).

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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Blizzards and Space Exploration

Meteorologists in the North-East warned of a blizzard via an approaching winter storm named Juno.

Folks there are going through the blizzard quite well so far, having listened to the warnings and then having prepared ahead.

That having been done, now it is time for the sledding, snowshoe-hiking, skiing, and other snow fun from Central Park in New York, to Boston, on up to Maine:

Tens of millions of people along the East Coast hunkered down for a storm that for most failed to live up to predictions that it would be one of the worst they'd ever seen.

Forecasters originally said the storm could bring 1 to 3 feet of snow and punishing hurricane-force winds. But early Tuesday, they downgraded most of those numbers, saying New England would fare the worst, but even then not as bad as expected.

(East Coast Snow Storm). It is so good to see people prepare as governments take appropriate heed and warn folks ahead of time.

Good luck to all the folks up in the North-East!

On other fronts, the Dawn spacecraft is approaching the largest "asteroid," Ceres (NASA Dawn), as NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is approaching Pluto (Close Encounter with Distant Pluto).

Those two planetoids are being approached for the first time for a more close-up photo shoot, as well as for serious scanning by other instruments to gather "relevant information" (the NSA must have been in on that design).

The EPH ("exploded planet hypothesis") people are going to be looking for "clues."

Clues which indicate whether or not Ceres could be composed of some of the remains of a large ocean.

The remains of a large body of water which was once part of a planet.

A planet which orbited the Sun, somewhere between Mars and Jupiter.

Yes, that planet orbited the Sun, until it exploded, to become the debris field we now call the "asteroid belt" (eg. EPH, Weekend Rebel Science Excursion, 7, Exploded Planet Hypothesis).

Why that planet exploded is, among other things, a debate, in science fiction circles, associated with Dyson Grids (as discussed in the links just above).

Meanwhile, the Voyager I and II spacecraft are entering interstellar space:

Voyager 1 has entered interstellar space. The NASA spacecraft, which rose from Earth on a September morning 36 years ago, has traveled farther than anyone, or anything, in history. Now Voyager 1 is in the space between the stars.

(NASA Voyager). Not to mention the Mars Rovers crawling over the very interesting Martian landscape (Curiosity, Opportunity).

I will close with a report from Australia about radio signals received there from space:

Astronomers in Australia have picked up an “alien” radio signal from space for the first time as it occurred. The signal, or radio “burst”, was discovered on May 15, 2014, though it’s just being reported by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. “The burst was identified within 10 seconds of its occurrence,” said Emily Petroff, a doctoral student from Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology. “The importance of the discovery was recognized very quickly and we were all working very excitedly to contact other astronomers and telescopes around the world to look at the location of the burst.”

Emerging from an unknown source, these bursts are bright flashes of radio waves that emit as much energy in a few milliseconds as the sun does in 24 hours. “The first fast radio burst was discovered in 2007,” Petroff tells FoxNews.com, “and up until our discovery there were 8 more found in old or archival data.” While researchers use telescopes in Hawaii, India, Germany, Chile, California, and the California Islands to search for bursts, it is the CSIRO Parkes radio telescope in Eastern Australia that is the first to catch one as its happening.

The cause of these mysterious signals remains unknown, with possible theories ranging from black holes to alien communication. However, UFO hunters shouldn’t get too excited. According to Petroff, “We're confident that they're coming from natural sources, that is to say it's probably not aliens, but we haven't solved the case completely. The two most promising theories at the moment are that these bursts could be produced either by a star producing a highly energetic flare, or from a neutron star collapsing to make a black hole. Both of these things would be from sources in far-away galaxies just reaching us from billions of light years away.”

(Fox News). There is nothing like the Earth, so we should care for it each and every day, never polluting and ruining it with overuse.

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Bright spot (frozen lake in crater?) becomes visible on Ceres as Dawn spacecraft approaches:

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Weekend Rebel Science Excursion - 23

Newly discovered life form

Friday is TGIF day and time to look at some fairly recent science reports and information.

There are seven theories for life's beginning (Seven Theories For Life's Beginning ).

Some scientists think that Earth life came from Mars (Earth Life From Mars).

Where ever life came from or originated, it is not fully understood yet, but is fully interesting.

Take the case of baby bees that were mixed into new hives resulting in killer bee babies being put into hives of non-killer bees, and vice-versa:

When he got the cards, says Robinson, “the results were stunning.” For the bees that had been kidnapped, life in a new home had indeed altered the activity of “whole sectors” of genes. When their gene expression data was viewed on the cards alongside the data for groups of bees raised among their own kin, a mere glance showed the dramatic change. Hundreds of genes had flipped colors. The move between hives didn’t just make the bees act differently. It made their genes work differently, and on a broad scale.

What’s more, the cards for the adopted bees of both species came to ever more resemble, as they moved through life, the cards of the bees they moved in with. With every passing day their genes acted more like those of their new hive mates (and less like those of their genetic siblings back home). Many of the genes that switched on or off are known to affect behavior; several are associated with aggression. The bees also acted differently. Their dispositions changed to match that of their hive mates. It seemed the genome, without changing its code, could transform an animal into something very like a different subspecies.

These bees didn’t just act like different bees. They’d pretty much become different bees. To Robinson, this spoke of a genome far more fluid—far more socially fluid—than previously conceived.

(Bee Genes - Epigenetics). This may add support to the hypothesis of a "cultural amygdala" that can change and adapt when the culture is changed (The Cultural Amygdala).

Another interesting genetic dynamic is the training of some microbes to do specialized work through genetic manipulation (Trained Microbes).

The graphic at the top of today's post shows a recently discovered life form which looks like an NSA listening antenna (New life form).

An interesting grid for communication between and among flora was discovered (Communication Grid for Flora).

Happy research and have a good weekend!

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

Mars: Analyzing Layers of History - 4

Gale Crater on Mars formed by impact.

In the previous post in this series we discussed a rumor about a major discovery on Mars that did not pan out.

But, last Tuesday NASA informed us of the results from the first drilling exercise ever by any human-made robot exploring another planet.

The Curiosity Rover, in Gale Crater on Mars, drilled into a rock to see what history the inside of the rock could reveal.

It was one for the history books, a major scientific discovery.

One of the science team leaders said that there was drinkable water there when the rock was formed, and biological life could have existed there:

An analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA's Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.

Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon -- some of the key chemical ingredients for life -- in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month.

"A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "From what we know now, the answer is yes."

(NASA Curiousity Rover, emphasis added, see video below). Today, let's concern ourselves with what they did not say, but what is obvious from the context.

The graphic portrayal of an asteroid crashing into Mars to form Gale Crater, depicted at the top of today's post, is the main historical consideration.

We discussed the geology and topography of Gale Crater earlier in the series (Mars: Analyzing Layers of History).

But the finding by NASA that clean, potable water was abundant after the catastrophe that created Gale Crater is what I want to talk about today.

Because it means that Mars had robust life at the time of the impact, robust biological life.

Why?

Because clean water flowing eons after a catastrophe like that would be very similar to what happened on Earth to form Chicxulub:

A panel of 41 international experts, including UK researchers from Imperial College London, the University of Cambridge, University College London and the Open University, reviewed 20 years' worth of research to determine the cause of the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction, which happened around 65 million years ago. The extinction wiped out more than half of all species on the planet, including the dinosaurs, bird-like pterosaurs and large marine reptiles, clearing the way for mammals to become the dominant species on Earth.

The new review of the evidence shows that the extinction was caused by a massive asteroid slamming into Earth at Chicxulub (pronounced chick-shoo-loob) in Mexico. The asteroid, which was around 15 kilometres wide, is believed to have hit Earth with a force one billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb at Hiroshima. It would have blasted material at high velocity into the atmosphere, triggering a chain of events that caused a global winter, wiping out much of life on Earth in a matter of days.

(From Deepwater I To Deepwater II). Something similar must have happened on Mars at Gale Crater, since such a large crater was formed.

Life anywhere near the impact site would have been vaporized, and a mass extinction would have begun.

But then, the abundant water of Mars came back into play over vast amounts of time, and eventually covered and filled Gale Crater.

Later, over time water and wind eroded it back to its condition and appearance today (see Cosmic Rosetta Stones?).

It would have taken a very long time, but the NASA space rover with a laboratory of tools has discovered that Mars survived the impact, and clean water flowed again, after the impact, for a long time at Gale Crater.

Some astronomers think that a water-world type planet existed between Mars and Jupiter, that it exploded for some reason (failed Dyson Grid?), and that nearby catastrophe caused damage which removed life from Mars over a long span of time (see e.g. Weekend Rebel Science Excursion - 7, Weekend Rebel Science Excursion - 11, and Exploded Planet Hypothesis).

Hope we find some microbes or fossils next.

The previous post in this series is here.

Mars: Analyzing Layers of History - 3

This is a series where I keep an eye on the developments happening on the planet Mars.

It involves watching the NASA video and sound conferences where NASA updates us with the latest events with the Curiosity Rover at Gale Crater.

Less often the events of the Opportunity Rover at Endeavour Crater are also very significant.

Some information has been let out indicating that the Curiosity Rover team is excited and bulging at the seams with a discovery at Gale Crater that will change the history books.

I think they will eventually find evidence of biotic evolution, microbial life signs on Mars, and I am suspicious that this discovery is that big:

Scientists working on NASA's six-wheeled rover on Mars have a problem. But it's a good problem.

They have some exciting new results from one of the rover's instruments. On the one hand, they'd like to tell everybody what they found, but on the other, they have to wait because they want to make sure their results are not just some fluke or error in their instrument.

It's a bind scientists frequently find themselves in, because by their nature, scientists like to share their results. At the same time, they're cautious because no one likes to make a big announcement and then have to say "never mind."

...

"This data is gonna be one for the history books."

(NPR, emphasis added). Once they are certain that whatever they found did not come from the Earth along with Curiosity, they will hold a news conference and let us know.

Some similar Mars posts: The Mystery of Science Friction, Weekend Rebel Science Excursion, Cosmic Rosetta Stones?, and Throw The Textbook Out.

UPDATE: The Curiosity team is playing down the expectations now.

The previous post in this series is here.

The Mystery of Science Friction

Where are the microbes?

What is science friction?

We sometimes tend to forget how much scientists challenge one another, even causing friction from time to time, and we tend to forget how much that can help move science along.

In a more severe sense today's "science" even sometimes becomes tomorrow's "heresy" (see e.g. What Is Pseudo Science?, Heretics Deny The Dark Matter of Faith, Tyranny Of Dogma In Science, and State Crimes Against Democracy).

Yes, the status quo sometimes has more gravity and mass than "new stuff", more gravity and mass than the status quo should have, and hence the friction.

A recent example concerns the Earth - Mars interactions that occur in the form of Martian meteorites making their way to the Earth's surface.

Naturally the scientists want to examine those meteorites to determine what they are made of, but some of the scientists have taken a look inside for evidence of life, and have come up with friction generating results:

Richard Hoover has discovered evidence of microfossils similar to Cyanobacteria, in freshly fractured slices of the interior surfaces of the Alais, Ivuna, and Orgueil CI1 carbonaceous meteorites. Based on Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and other measures, Richard Hoover has concluded they are indigenous to these meteors and are similar to trichomic cyanobacteria and other trichomic prokaryotes such as filamentous sulfur bacteria. He concludes these fossilized bacteria are not Earthly contaminants but are the fossilized remains of living organisms which lived in the parent bodies of these meteors, e.g. comets, moons, and other astral bodies.

(A Structure RE: The Corruption of Memes). Another discovery presents an interesting nexus between microbial life of that sort and things found on both Earth and Mars, which were nicknamed "blueberries" by scientists:

It was originally thought that those spheres of hematite here on Earth, and by extrapolation those on Mars, were chemically produced, not organically produced.

However, and to the contrary, new research of similar hematite spheres here on Earth has found that those here on Earth were formed by microbes:

Spherical iron-oxide concretions - dubbed "blueberries" - were first found on the Red Planet in 2004 by an earlier NASA robotic probe - Opportunity Rover - providing some of the first evidence for liquid water on Mars.

Earth-based analogues for these "blueberries" are found in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone near the Colorado River, Utah, where the concretions range in size from small marbles to cannonballs and consist of a hard shell of iron oxide surrounding a softer sandy interior.

Previous theories suggested these concretions were formed by simple chemical reactions without the help of life. However, new UWA research shows clear evidence that microbes were essential in their formation.

This raises the possibility that Martian "blueberries" may not only reveal that water was present on Mars - but life too.

(Phys Org). This may also hold true for the new type of "blueberries" found in Endeavour Crater very recently, found also by the Opportunity Rover:

NASA's long-lived rover Opportunity has returned an image of the Martian surface that is puzzling researchers.

Spherical objects concentrated at an outcrop called Kirkwood on the western rim of Endeavour Crater differ in several ways from iron-rich spherules nicknamed "blueberries" the rover found at its landing site in early 2004.

"This is one of the most extraordinary pictures from the whole mission," said Opportunity's principal investigator, Steve Squyres of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. "Kirkwood is chock full of a dense accumulation of these small spherical objects. Of course, we immediately thought of the blueberries, but this is something different. We never have seen such a dense accumulation of spherules in a rock outcrop on Mars."

(Mystery Spheres on Mars, NASA). The spherical objects at Endeavour are not of the same composition as those found in 2004 shortly after Opportunity landed.

(Cosmic Rosetta Stones?). So, we know that the spherical stones called "blueberries" were made by microbial activity here on Earth, not by purely chemical process as was once thought.

So, the possibility that their twins on Mars were likewise made by microbes is a plausible reality, especially since microbe fossils from ancient Mars have been found in meteorites here on Earth.

The theory that a planet near Mars exploded long ago, destroying the ecosystems of Mars (Weekend Rebel Science Excursion), together with the theory that a Dyson Grid malfunctioned to cause that explosion, creates yet more science friction (Exploded Planet Hypothesis).

The new Mars Rover Curiosity (Mars: Analyzing Layers of History) will hopefully take some of the friction out of the discussion, and add some more settled science to the discussion.

Isn't science friction fun?

Mars: Analyzing Layers of History - 2

Curiosity landed in the oval as planned.

I watched the entire landing sequence of Curiosity, ending with a clean, soft landing in Gale crater on Mars.

The craft functioned flawlessly during EDL, fulfilling our hopes expressed in the first post of this series.

Now the surface work begins within the landing area shown as the oval shape on the map to the left, but just exactly where the craft is may not be determined for a day or so, but we do know that the first photos show a flat surface with some gravel, a view of one wheel, a look at the craft's shadow, and the ridge of Gale Crater off in the distance.

Soon though, full color hi-res photos will be sent after the craft is checked out carefully, step by step, and the mast, etc. are properly deployed.

The library of a billion years or so of Martian history has been deposited nearby in stratified layers going up a mound that is about three miles high.

The bottom, oldest layers of the mound have clay deposits, indicating water-deposited fine material, then older silica type material is in layers above that, then more and more layers of various sorts extend on up the hill like pages in an ancient history book.

We stand a good chance to find out about the catastrophes that scarred and shaped the surface of Mars, and perhaps even more data to support or not support the EPH (see Exploded Planet Hypothesis, Weekend Rebel Science Excursion).

The next post in this series is here, the previous post is here.

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UPDATES:

MRO photo: Curiosity parachute deployed

Gale Crater: location of landing site

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HazCam: Looking forward toward Mt. Sharp

Mars: Analyzing Layers of History

Gale Crater Landing Site - Mars

On August 5, 2012, NASA hopes to land the most robust rover ever, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), nicknamed Curiosity, inside the ellipse drawn on the graphic to the left (click to enlarge).

 The graphic detail is of Gale Crater, on the planet Mars.

The mountain inside the crater was not likely formed by the meteorite impact billions of years ago, rather it was more likely formed later by layered deposits over eons of time, most likely when water covered both the crater as well as the area around the crater.

Gale Crater - Overhead View

The graphic photo to the right (click to enlarge) is another view of the crater, also containing the ellipse shaped landing zone (at about 11 o'clock just inside the crater rim).

That landing zone has been shrunk to a much smaller target area recently, because the landing software has been improved, tested, and uploaded to Curiosity.

This photo clearly shows that the mountain area that will be studied is not in the center of the crater.

After the MSL Curiosity lands safely, is checked out, then begins its journey, it will eventually try to follow canyons uphill toward the top of the mountain.

Along the way up the mountain, it will sample layers of deposited material, analyzing them for both their mineral content, as well as indications of how those minerals were deposited.

The scientists conducting the analysis will be able to determine if the material was laid down in water, the salinity and acidity of that water at the time, as well as general environmental conditions that changed the layers over vast amounts of time.

Furthermore, the clay materials near the lowest elevations will be analyzed for organic materials as well as signatures of microbial or other life forms:

"This may be one of the thickest exposed sections of layered sedimentary rocks in the solar system. The rock record preserved in those layers holds stories that are billions of years old -- stories about whether, when, and for how long Mars might have been habitable."

(Strange Attraction ... Gale Crater). One of the main interests Dredd Blog has is the source of the microbial fossils found in meteorites that originated on Mars but later crashed into the Earth.

Some of them have been analyzed by NASA scientists who have concluded that the fossils inside those meteorites are organic, microbial life, which came from Mars.

That is a controversial issue at this time, however, there is a chance that the Curiosity rover will be able to add to the data upon which the controversy is based.

Another controversial issue is the Exploded Planet Hypothesis which says that a planet located between Mars and Jupiter exploded.

It generated meteors which led to cratering on other planets and moons when those meteors became meteorites.

When that planet exploded it left asteroids and comets as residue and debris.

Anyway, the analysis of strata layers on Mars, when compared to eventual analysis of strata layers on Phobos and on the asteroid Vesta, may provide some sort of syncronization that could help to solve these controversial issues.

With Dust You Shall Return

The Japanese sent the spacecraft Hayabusa to an asteroid in 2003.

It was able to land, but communication and other problems left doubt as to whether it had scooped up some of the surface material of the asteroid, as it had been designed to do.

It returned to the earth, so we will soon find out:

Arriving right on schedule, the Hayabusa spacecraft streaked across the skies above a vast desert in central Australia on June 13 at 11:51 p.m. local time. The probe jettisoned a small sample return capsule before breaking up and disintegrating in a shower of sparks in Earth's upper atmosphere.

The capsule continued its descent as a bright pinpoint of light for several more moments before deploying a parachute and landing in a sparsely populated military-testing zone in the South Australia (map) outback known as the Woomera Prohibited Area.

A search helicopter confirmed the capsule's location around 1 a.m. local time on June 14 and a team of scientists returned later that day to retrieve it.

(National Geo). The asteroid belt begins just past Mars and generally extends outward almost to the planet Jupiter.

One theory is that the asteroids are the remains of a planet that exploded, destroying an ancient ecosystem on Mars, and causing craters on planets and moons throughout our solar system.

Some scientists hypothesize that could be the reason vast oceans on Mars disappeared:

"Our findings lend credence to the existing theories regarding extent and formation time of an ancient ocean on Mars," said researcher Gaetano Di Achille, a planetary geologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "Moreover our test suggests that early Mars could have likely had a global water cycle similar to the present hydrological configuration of our planet."

(Space). If there is dust in the returning Hayabusa capsule as hoped it may give some more clues to help solve the controversy and mystery.

Weekend Rebel Science Excursion

Notice the lines of strata on the planet in the photo?

Notice that the strata are not blotted out by impacts that formed deep craters, because the strata go deep and all the way through?

Check out the close up for better detail.

The European Space Agency (ESA), which took the photo, has had a space craft orbiting Mars for several years.

A revolution in the understanding of the planet Mars has been taking place as a result of that ESA mission, together with several U.S. missions to the red planet.

I want to talk about a hypothesis or theory, set forth by a well known astronomer, which would support a hypothesis that the strata lines on the object in the photo are there because, under the Exploded Planet Hypothesis or Theory, (EPH or EPT), it could be a photo of a chunk of a planet that blew up long, long, long ago.

Generally strata are laid down by the effects of erosion, either by liquid, atmospheric winds, volcanism of various sorts, or a combination of any or all of those over a long span of time.

If these lines are that type of strata, then it is likely that a very long time transpired during which the deposits that make up the strata were laid down.

Obviously that does not happen on any asteroid, or similar body, nor would such lines be at an angle opposite the gravitational direction as is the case in the photo.

Ok, so now you who didn't guess earlier know that the photo is of Phobos, the largest moon of Mars, and that it is not a photo of a planet.

But is it a chunk of the now missing planet which once filled the great gap between Mars and Jupiter, where now there are only asteroids remaining in the junk yard of rock and debris we call the asteroid belt?

A now missing planet which exploded and left the chunk in the photo to be caught by the gravity of Mars, and to then become a moon of Mars?

The EPH or EPT is an old idea which has been subscribed to by some good astronomers, who were of course criticized by their fellow astronomers because they did not follow the crowd to accept the theory pronounced "okay" by the government.

NASA is the government you know, and they are political you know. You didn't?

Anyway, some missions to Phobos are in the planning stages and we will "soon" find out about the strata on Phobos.

The EPH has had proven predictions in the past. The EPH has been tested enough, in my opinion, to move it up a notch to a theory, the EPT, but not everyone agrees.

The EPT predicts that when Phobos is studied closely and samples of the various layers in the photo are examined, it will be shown that they are, like strata on Mars, Earth, and other planets, the result of deposits over a long period of time.

If so, then the argument that Phobos is a chunk from a larger body or planet as set forth in the EPH or EPT will have been further justified.

Then we wait for the empire to strike back.

The next post in this series is here.

Throw The Textbook Out

The planet Mars has water.

It is no longer said to have been a dead planet of deserts forever as once opined.

What were those channels that Lowell and Schiaparelli, two famous astronomers, saw in the 1800's?

A temporary global warming on Mars that went away? Not sure.

But there is growing evidence that liquid water is placed onto the surface via springs at times. And it has evidently happened many times in the past.

Mars has vast amounts of water, in the form of ice, at the poles. Enough to cover it 30 or so feet deep over its entire surface. It has glaciers under a cover of dust and rubble near the equator. And it once had more water. Much more, and it was liquid.

Methane gas has been discovered during massive releases of that gas at mid summer. Since methane dissipates quickly the release of that gas means that it may be being created now. Which is a possible sign of microbial activity, because microbes on earth produce methane.

And recently carbonates were discovered in rock layers which indicates that non-acidic water was there in large quantity in the past. Lotsa cool clean water a long time ago!

Was that before the planet was bombarded when the planet between Mars and Jupiter was destroyed? A prominent astronomer, who died a few weeks back, thought so. And I certainly do too.

All that is left of that planet now is vapor, asteroids, and chunks of it orbiting other planets or embedded in craters they made on planets and moons throughout the solar system.

The exploration machines on Mars and around Saturn are finding information that is causing headaches for the people who print the textbooks. The textbooks that tell us the great truths about our solar system.

Throw some more of the books out. They are out of date. We are finding strange goings on there.

And there are very strange discoveries on Saturn too.