Ice Landslides at North Pole Conclusively Prove Global Warming

One catch: It's on Mars.

A NASA spacecraft has taken the first-ever image of an avalanche in action near Mars' north pole.

The High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took the photograph Feb. 19. The image, released today, shows tan clouds billowing away from the foot of a towering slope, where ice and dust have just cascaded down.

The camera was tracking seasonal changes on Mars when it inadvertently caught the avalanche on film.

HiRISE mission scientist Ingrid Daubar Spitale of the University of Arizona was the first person to notice the avalanche when sifting through images.

"It really surprised me," she said. "It's great to see something so dynamic on Mars. A lot of what we see there hasn't changed for millions of years."

And suddenly it's changing, huh?

Now, if you read on, you'll see the scientists have no idea if this is common or uncommon; this happens just to be the first ice/dust landslide they've been lucky enough to see.

Still... if this were on earth, what the fuck do you think Al Gore would be saying about it?

Robert, who sent this, wants to know how big the carbon footprint of the Mars Rover is.

And don't forget Viking. The Viking probes used almost as much energy as an office vacuum cleaner. There's no telling what sorts of havoc such energy wastefulness might have wreaked upon Mars' delicate ecosystem.

posted by Ace at 07:55 PM

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