Excerpt

However, the strength of the echo that the radar receives from the rocky surface underneath the layered deposits suggests the composition of the layered deposits is at least 90 percent frozen water. One area with an especially bright reflection from the base of the deposits puzzles researchers. It resembles what a thin layer of liquid water might look like to the radar instrument...

Polar layered deposits hold most of the known water on modern Mars, though other areas of the planet appear to have been very wet at times in the past. Understanding the history and fate of water on Mars is a key to studying whether Mars has ever supported life, because all known life depends on liquid water...

SOURCE: Physics.org (On File)

Credit: NASA Click to enlarge

Excerpt

"The now famous Martian gullies were created by trickling water from melting snow packs, not underground springs or pressurized flows, as had been previously suggested, argues Dr. Philip Christensen, the principal investigator for Odyssey's camera system and a professor from Arizona State University in Tempe. He proposes gullies are carved by water melting and flowing beneath snow packs, where it is sheltered from rapid evaporation in the planet's thin atmosphere"

SOURCE: NASA (On File)

Credit: NASA Click to enlarge

Pegasus Research Consortium has gathered a lot of pages and images showing past and present indication of water on Mars. This new section here is where we will be focussing all the data on Martian water and possibilities of life, however until that is all linked you can visit the pages below. As time allows they will be added and or linked from this section in the appropriate areas.

The main menu for all Martian and other Planet Anomalies is here;
Martian Anomalies Collection

Take the time to read over these pages. There is a lot of research here regarding Martian Water. This project is ongoing so if you have anything to add, or there is a new release of data please contact me at Webmaster and I will include it in the collection. - Zorgon
 

<SNIP>

But hey! You wanna come with me on a picnic to the Great Lake area on Mars instead? (The pic which I posted on another thread of mine, 'Want To Have a Picnic On Mars? This Is The Place!!!') 

OK. Here it is... Remember this one which you colored? Or is it the true color of Mars?

Originally posted by spines Post ID2643142

Having no way of knowing the elevation(s) within this image I can not agree that it could be a body of water. It looks much like a hole of indeterminate depth (to my knowladge). However, I do love seeing the pictures you post and I like the way your mind looks over things.  I think I have an idea of what you see in your mind and I agree...

It is a beautiful place to hold a picnic. 

Credit: Colorization by Spines, a member of ATS

Originally posted by mikesingh
Wow, Spines!
That coloration is superb. Hmmm...Now how the dickens did you know that I had this in mind? I wanted to color it myself and see how it would look. You've beaten me to it!

But, yes, it sure is a lovely place for a picnic! 

Having said that, what if the original pic did have these colours but released as black and white so we didn't get to know the reality of the existence of water and plant life on Mars? Just a thought. 

Cheers!! 

quote: Originally posted by zeeon
"As far as the water argument - who exactly confirmed the existence of water on other planets, including mars?"

So zeeon, are you telling me that you are in dark regarding water on Mars?

Layer deposit of ice on South Pole / Mars were discovered in 70's - but new ( ground penetrating system / which we are using on Earth) radar technique - enabled astronomers to go 2.5 miles deep, and data showed 'pure water ice' beneath.

Giant Pool of Water Ice at Mars' South Pole

Excerpt
By Jeanna Bryner Staff Writer
15 March 2007

Mars is unlikely to sport beach front property anytime soon, but the planet has enough water ice at its south pole to blanket the entire planet in more than 30 feet of water if everything thawed out.

With a radar technique, astronomers have penetrated for the first time about 2.5 miles (nearly four kilometers) beneath the south pole's frozen surface. The data showed that nearly pure water ice lies beneath.

SOURCE: Space.com (On File)

Missing Water

Excerpt
By Jeanna Bryner Staff Writer
15 March 2007

Excerpt

These polar ice deposits are by far the largest reservoir of water or water ice that we know of on Mars,” Plaut said. That's a lot of water, but not enough to account for the flowing streams thought to meander along Mars’ surface in the past.

“There's evidence that about 10 times or maybe even 100 times that much water has flowed across the surface of Mars to carve the various channels, the outflow valleys and other features we see in the images and topography data,” Plaut told SPACE.com.

So where's the rest of the water? One idea is that a subterranean plumbing system once ferried loads of water beneath the Martian surface. Plaut said his team also will search for underground pools with the radar technique.

SOURCE: Space.com (On File)

Underground Plumbing System Discovered on Mars

Excerpt
By Ker Than Staff Writer
15 February 2007

A Mars orbiting spacecraft has spotted a subterranean natural plumbing system that might have ferried water beneath the surface of the red planet in the distant past.

SOURCE: Space.com (On File)

New View of Ancient Mars Water System

Excerpt
By Ker Than Staff Writer
07 March 2007

Groundwater once bubbled up from beneath the surface of Mars to form transient, shallow pools before evaporating and leaving behind thick layers of salty minerals, a new computer model suggests.

SOURCE: Space.com (On File)

Water Ice Discovery on Mars May Be 'Tip of an Iceberg'

Excerpt
By Robert Roy Britt Senior Science Writer
28 May 2002

Scientists are reporting this week detailed evidence for vast amounts of water ice just beneath the surface of Mars. The finding, which confirms preliminary data released earlier this year, should help answer an age old question regarding where ancient Mars' water went, and it is likely to fuel greater interest in probing the Red Planet for signs of life.

The new data, provided by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, will be reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science. The findings were embargoed for release Thursday afternoon, but some news outlets in the U.S. and Britain reported on them last week and over the weekend.

The journal lifted the embargo this morning.

SOURCE: Space.com (On File)

Thank you bluebird, but I'm still a bit suspicious about that one image that gives us a 'close up' of this anomaly.

I have tried to find official explanations for these tree-like formations, and so far I haven't across any. Perhaps I haven't been looking up the necessary criteria?

Anyway, I did find a case against the theory that these formations are organic. These images are natural formations occurring on earth, known as ‘tree rocks,’ however they don't appear to be consistent to the formations seen on Mars.
Tree Rocks
Balanced Rocks Utah

I also came across another argument where they were some sort of mineral deposits, but this argument was vague and I couldn't find much beyond it, though I’ll look for more later.

Nonetheless I came across this official article from NASA regarding the area where these formations are being linked: (See Here)

Here is an interesting website making a case for the organic formations. It also has some links above if you'd rather not watch the clip.

http://homepage.mac.com/alandmoen/ringsonmars/iMovieTheater19.html

I would also like to tie this theory into this:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070125_mars_atmosphere.html

To be honest, I'm still skeptical, why wouldn't this make the news to some degree at the least?

Mars' Missing Air Might Just be Hiding

By Ker Than Staff Writer Space.com
25 January 2007

Rather than having had its air knocked out into space, Mars might just be holding its breath.

New findings suggests the missing atmosphere of Mars might be locked up in hidden reservoirs on the planet, rather than having been chafed away by billions of years' worth of solar winds as previously thought.

Combining two years of observations by the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft, researchers determined that Mars is currently losing only about 20 grams of air per second into space.

Extrapolating this measurement back over 3.5 billion years, they estimate that only a small fraction, 0.2 to 4 millibars, of carbon dioxide and a few centimeters of water could have been lost to solar winds during that time frame. (A bar is a unit for measuring pressure; Earth's atmospheric pressure is about 1 bar.)

Missing Greenhouse

According to the "warm and wet early Mars" model, liquid water once flowed on the red planet's surface. Evidence from channels and gullies recently spotted on Mars suggest the water layer might have been more than half a mile deep in places. For Mars to keep that much water in liquid form, the planet must have had a much higher atmospheric temperature, which scientists think was made possible by a strong greenhouse effect in the planet's past.

Mars' atmosphere must have been between 1 to 5 bars to maintain that kind of greenhouse effect, scientists think.  But Mars’ atmospheric pressure today is only a small fraction of that - about 0.008 bars, or about 0.7 percent of the average surface pressure at sea level on Earth.

What happened to Mars' atmosphere - and by association, its water - is one of the central mysteries surrounding the red planet today. One idea was that the atmosphere was eroded over the course of several billion years by the Sun's solar winds.

The new findings, detailed in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Science, suggest this might not be the case.

Hidden Reservoir?

Where the atmosphere went is still unclear, but the authors speculate that it might still be contained somewhere beneath the Martian surface.

"There are different alternatives," said study leader Stas Barabash of the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Kiruna, Sweden. "One is that it is still stored somewhere on Mars in some hidden reservoir we cannot find."

Another, more controversial, idea is that Mars' atmosphere was blown away in a catastrophic impact with a giant asteroid or comet sometime in the planet's ancient past. Barabash estimates that Mars would have had to have been struck by a space rock at least 6 miles (10 km) wide to obliterate its atmosphere.

Uncovering what happened to Mar's atmosphere is key to understanding the overall evolution of the planet, Barabash told SPACE.com. It could also help answer the question of whether life might have once existed there.

"If we can show that conditions on early Mars were really moderate - that the temperature was sufficiently high and there was plenty of water," Barabash said, "then all our suggestions and ideas that life might have existed on Mars become more solid." 

SOURCE: Space.com (On File)

OMEGA, a visible and Near Infrared imaging spectrometer onboard Mars Express, has been observing Mars since January 2004 covering over 50% of the planet. These data reveal a new face of Mars in terms of surface mineralogy with significant astrobiological implications. The data have allowed the mapping of the CO² and H²O ices over the southern and northern polar cap as well as the determination of global and regional maps of high and low calcium pyroxenes, which are sometimes in very high concentrations and small areas extremely enriched in olivine. 

Most relevant to astrobiology, the instrument allowed the identification of hydrated minerals (sulfates and silicates) Hydrated sulfates are commonly observed in association with high concentrations of ferric minerals, probably oxides. Hydrated silicates are commonly observed in completely distinct deposits. These minerals are associated with layered deposits and the identification of sulfates favors a formation through the deposition in a standing body of water or through groundwater or hydrothermal processes. These environments could have favored the apparition of life on Mars and are thus important targets for future investigation. We started a comparison of the mineralogy identified on Mars through the OMEGA data set with a terrestrial analogue, the Rio Tinto in Spain. The mineralogy associated with this very acidic river (pH2) is dominated by oxides and sulfates. 

This analysis will lead us to a better understanding of the processes at stake on Mars in the formation of the sulfate and hydrated silicate deposits, and their consequences for astrobiology. - Source: NASA pdf Abstract

Now why am I overloading you guys with Mars and Moon oddities? Heck, aren't we here to get to the bottom of the Mars, Moon and ‘otherworldly’ conspiracies and discover what the heck is going on? 

Someone somewhere will hopefully hit the bull's eye with undeniable proof from even one of the thousands of photographs, some of which could have been the smoking gun but tampered with in order to hide the truth. 

Hopefully, an odd pic, which has escaped the scalpel, will one day be unearthed. And that will change the way we see the universe - forever!

Having said that, take a look at what looks like earthly forests and a lake on Mars. Looks like a nice place for a picnic!! Notice the distinct shoreline and a line of artificial looking ‘structures’ on the bottom edge of the ‘lake’. Also notice image tampering on the bottom shoreline of the ‘lake’, which is smudged. 

Or are these the usual ‘natural geological formations’? You decide.
 

Mars South Polar Forest & Water Evidence

"The above fifth and last image demonstrates a closer view of the M09-01354 surface water site. Note that the lower right side of this depression appears to be strangely relatively straight as compared with the rest of the irregular shoreline. Note in the distant third image that this straight line extends on out beyond the depression into the surrounding terrain and the terrain textures and patterns on either side of this demarcation line are quite different than each other. That is primarily because this is where two different terrain tampering fields and tampering methodologies meet and join in this image.

Also, if you will look closely in the above fifth closer view image, you can see what appears to be a string of hard objects in a line bordering on the lower right shoreline of the depression. The degraded resolution is too poor to be conclusive but I suspect that these are a line of artificial geometric structures creating the more organized but uncharacteristic uniform straighter line that is so non typical of the rest of the irregular shore demarcation line. In fact, you can see where the tampering application on the lake surface crosses over and obscures a section of this line." - Source: Mars Anomaly Research

It's hard to believe that's an image from Mars because it does resemble a body of water. Now this is supposedly taken at the south pole of Mars where there is an 'ice cap'

Study Explains Mystery Of Mars Ice caps

Excerpt
Source:   Oregon State University
Date:  May 19, 2005

Jeffrey Barnes, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Oregon State University and one of the authors of the study, said the permanent ice caps on Mars' poles are quite different. The ice cap on the northern pole is much larger - about the size of Greenland - and comprised primarily of water ice.

The South Pole, however, is a strange animal," Barnes said. "The cap is made up mostly of carbon dioxide ice - or dry ice - which is the main component of the Martian atmosphere. The southern ice cap is much smaller, about a 10th the size of that at the northern pole, and it is all on one side of the pole. The other side of the pole contains a much larger area known as 'the Cryptic Region,' which is made up of seasonal ice in the winter but has low albedo, or reflectivity.

And no one has been able to figure out why there is this peculiar distribution of ice deposits.

 SOURCE: Science Daily (On File)

Having no way of knowing the elevation(s) within this image I can not agree that it could be a body of water. It looks much like a hole of indeterminate depth (to my knowledge). However, I do love seeing the pictures you post and I like the way your mind looks over things. I think I have an idea of what you see in your mind and I agree...
 
 

It is a beautiful place to hold a picnic. 

Wow, Spines!

That coloration is superb. Hmmm... Now how the dickens did you know that I had this in mind? I wanted to color it myself and see how it would look. You've beaten me to it!

But, yes, it sure is a lovely place for a picnic!

Having said that, what if the original pic did have these colours but released as black and white so we didn't get to know the reality of the existence of water and plant life on Mars? Just a thought. 

[quote] Posted by something smells
"I understand using spectrometry techniques that the "ice" can be defined."

GOOD! Then perhaps you will understand THIS...
 

Image Credit: ESA Click for 12 meg High Res. image

Water Ice in Crater at Martian North Pole

Excerpt
ESA
28 July 2005

These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show a patch of water ice sitting on the floor of an unnamed crater near the Martian north pole.

The HRSC obtained these images during orbit 1343 with a ground resolution of approximately 15 metres per pixel. The unnamed impact crater is located on Vastitas Borealis, a broad plain that covers much of Mars's far northern latitudes, at approximately 70.5° North and 103° East.

The crater is 35 kilometres wide and has a maximum depth of approximately 2 kilometres beneath the crater rim. The circular patch of bright material located at the centre of the crater is residual water ice. 

SOURCE: ESA (On File)

Water at Martian South Pole

Excerpt
ESA
17 March 2004

Thanks to ESA’s Mars Express, we now know that Mars has vast fields of perennial water ice, stretching out from the south pole of the Red Planet.

Astronomers have known for years that Mars possessed polar ice caps, but early attempts at chemical analysis suggested only that the northern cap could be composed of water ice, and the southern cap was thought to be carbon dioxide ice.

Recent space missions then suggested that the southern ice cap, existing all year round, could be a mixture of water and carbon dioxide. But only with Mars Express have scientists been able to confirm directly for the first time that water ice is present at the south pole too. 

SOURCE: ESA (On File)

So it would seem that the Scientists in the European Space Agency agree with Mike  And that image above IS a frozen lake  with snow on the ridges.. 

<SNIP>

I still say it's a lake of frozen water or it may not be even frozen during the Martian summer. To substantiate what I've said.....

"The uncovering of an apparent error in atmospheric models of Mars dating back more than three decades suggests that both of the permanently frozen polar caps are made mostly of water ice and contain very little frozen carbon dioxide."

Robert Roy Britt

SOURCE: Space.com

Cheers!! 

Now we're progressing toward the reality that there could even be life on Mars! 

Now where the heck have I kept my fishing tackle??!! 

By Robert Roy Britt Senior Science Writer
13 February 2003

The uncovering of an apparent error in atmospheric models of Mars dating back more than three decades suggests that both of the permanently frozen polar caps are made mostly of water ice and contain very little frozen carbon dioxide.

The news is good, in a lukewarm sense, for biologists, who figure water is the key ingredient for any possible life on Mars. It falls short, however, of revealing actual liquid water, which is what even the hardiest known critters need to survive.

The news is rather dismal for "terraformers," who would use the Red Planet's carbon dioxide to engineer a greenhouse effect and turn the cold, dusty little world into a veritable oasis for venturous human colonists.

However it is viewed, the new research helps confirm several other recent studies that have fueled a growing suspicion that Mars contains vast quantities of frozen water.
False impression

Scientists have known since the 1970s that the northern cap of Mars is mostly water ice, but until recently indications were that the southern cap was predominantly if not entirely carbon dioxide, commonly referred to as dry ice. In its gaseous form, carbon dioxide is considered a greenhouse contributor, a substance that naturally helps make up the insulating blanket of atmosphere that keeps Earth cozy and livable.

SOURCE: Space.com (On File)

By Robert Roy Britt Senior Science Writer
04 January 2002

Add water, stir in color

Using topographical data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) instrument on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, Kees Veenenbos of the Netherlands has created scenes showing how Mars might look today. Putting his imagination to what might have been, he added water, stirred in a little color, and produced dozens of intriguing images.

Ancient Mars: Waterworld Imagined

The renderings are purely educated guesses, but they are nonetheless compelling glimpses into what many scientists agree may once have been a much more Earth like planet.

SOURCE: Space.com (On File)