Discover the mystery of the long black streak on the side of a mountain on Mars

New research reveals 'barcode'-like black streaks on Mars are caused by dust avalanches from meteorite impacts and natural activity, affecting the red planet's climate.

Recently, scientists published research results in the journal Nature Communications about long black streaks that look like "strange barcodes" on the slopes of Mars, recorded since late 2023. Photo: European Space Agency.

The “strange barcode” image, captured by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Trace Gas Orbiter, shows narrow, dark bands stretching down the slopes of Apollinaris Mons, an extinct volcano located near the Martian equator. Each streak marks the trace of a dust avalanche, triggered when a meteorite crashed onto the surface and shook up the fine dust covering the slopes. Photo: D. Ducros / ESA.

Despite covering less than 0.1% of the planet’s surface, these “dust slides” play a vital role in Mars’ dust cycle. According to scientists, the amount of dust they release each year is equivalent to at least two global dust storms, contributing significantly to the Red Planet’s climate system. Photo: ESA/ATG medialab.

A new study led by Valentin Bickel of the University of Bern (Switzerland) says this is a rare phenomenon. Less than one in a thousand of these dust slides originate from meteorite impacts. The majority are caused by seasonal variations in winds and natural dust activity. Photo: NASA.

Bickel and his colleagues analyzed more than 2 million dust slides on 90,000 images taken by Mars orbiters, primarily from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). They used deep learning algorithms to scan the data and determine when and where each slide formed, thereby discovering seasonal patterns in the fluctuations of Martian dust. Photo: jenoptik.com.

Research results show that this phenomenon appears most densely in the summer and fall in the southern hemisphere, when winds are strongest enough to lift tiny dust particles into the air. Photo: World Perspectives/Photographer's Choice/Getty Images.

When the amount of dust these streaks stir up was compared with atmospheric circulation data, the team found that they contribute to moving about a quarter of the total amount of dust exchanged between the surface and the atmosphere each year, equivalent to the amount of dust produced by two global hurricanes. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona.

The most favorable conditions for the formation of the streaks have been determined to be at dawn and dusk. However, no orbiter has yet been able to directly record the process due to limited light during those times. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The study also identified five “hotspots” where the phenomenon is most prevalent, including Amazonis, the area around Olympus Mons, Tharsis, Arabia and Elysium, areas with steep terrain, loose dust and winds strong enough to trigger surface displacement. Photo: earth.com.

These observations could help us better understand what’s happening on Mars today, said Colin Wilson, mission scientist for the Trace Gas Orbiter. Collecting continuous, long-term, global observations to explore the dynamics of Mars is a key goal of current and future orbiters. Photo: Universal History Archive/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

Readers are invited to watch the video : Universe map with more than 900,000 stars, galaxies and black holes. Source: THĐT1.

Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/kham-pha-bi-an-vet-den-dai-tren-suon-nui-sao-hoa-post2149069881.html