Take a close look at photos of these four key features found near Lake Salda. The Perseverance team hopes to find similar features on Mars. 👀
1. Microbialites
Lake Salda has hydromagnesite sediments eroded from large mounds called “microbialites”—rocks formed with the help of microbes. It would be huge news, if Jezero Crater has microbialites as well.
2. Rock Deposits in Deltas
By studying how stones settled in Lake Salda’s alluvial fans, the team can learn more about the depositional processes at Jezero.
3. Groundwater Seeps
Groundwater springs at Lake Salda like this play an important role in altering the lake chemistry and influencing the environment for microbes. Might Jezero have had them as well?
4. A Variety of Shoreline Rocks
At Jezero, we can detect a mixture of watershed minerals and possibly additional carbonate along the margins of the crater from orbit. Could these deposits be similar to the mixture of beach sediments we see at Lake Salda?
Earth is a big, weird place in space. There’s so much happening on this planet all at once that it’s easy to forget some minor details. We asked our friends here at @NASA — and we want to share with you — the facts about Earth that live rent free in our heads.
Dust from the Sahara fertilizes the Amazon rainforest. 27.7 million tons blow all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to the rainforest each year, where it brings phosphorus -- a nutrient plants need to grow. go.nasa.gov/3aiOtWP
2020 was tied with 2016 for the warmest year on record, part of a long-term warming trend driven by human activity. @NASA works to monitor how our climate is changing — melting ice, warming temperatures, longer fire seasons, and more. go.nasa.gov/2XDI6rh
Recent NASA research has shown how the warming ocean is melting glaciers in Greenland. go.nasa.gov/3c4pdWO
Combined, Greenland and Antarctica are losing 318 gigatons of ice per year. As the ice melts into the ocean, sea levels rise globally. go.nasa.gov/3cb0bCC
Over the last 35 years, fire seasons have been burning longer. In the United States, changes to the timing of snowmelt and precipitation — linked to climate change — contributed to the longer fire seasons. go.nasa.gov/3pmxY2h
Globally, 2020 was the hottest year on record, effectively tying 2016, the previous record. Overall, Earth’s average temperature has risen more than 2 degrees F since the 1880s. The effects of rising temperatures are felt around the world. go.nasa.gov/3iakW5c
2020 was a year of extremes, with record-breaking hurricane and fire seasons. Higher surface temperatures and more heat in the climate system can fuel different extreme events, directly and indirectly, like increasing tropical storm intensity.
This year, we saw record-setting fires in Australia and the western U.S., after years of high temperature and drought set the stage. Smoke from fires in both regions reached so high into the atmosphere that it formed clouds. go.nasa.gov/396zPBt go.nasa.gov/33oxoqO
We know that as human activity warms the planet, global sea level is rising. We know that about 2/3 of sea level rise so far has come from melting ice. But how do we know this? We can measure it from space. #SeeingTheSeas
Sea level isn’t uniform around the planet. Tides and currents, the density and temperature of water, and landforms can affect where the ocean piles up. We know this because we measure the shape of the ocean using radar altimetry. go.nasa.gov/3n0EpGB
Altimetry works by bouncing radio waves off the ocean surface and timing how quickly they return. Then comes the next challenge: Calculating the natural and seasonal changes in ocean height to determine how much more global warming has made seas rise.
The effects of sea level rise come in many forms. During tropical storms, higher sea levels drive intense storm surges — water level much higher than normal tides. But with sea level rise, the tides themselves can cause flooding.
During high-tide floods, water can make its way from the ocean onto land and bubble up from storm drains. In cities like Miami & Annapolis, high-tide flooding can close down streets & businesses, and damage infrastructure like pipes & wastewater systems. go.nasa.gov/3eISZj9
Between 2000-2015, days with high-tide flooding doubled along the U.S. Northeast Atlantic coast, & that will likely keep climbing. Some locations could see high-tide flooding 180 days a year by 2050. From May '19 to April '20, Annapolis had a record 18 days of high-tide flooding.
Sea levels on the West Coast of the United States are rising at a faster rate than the global average – and that trend is likely to continue for at least a few years, with likely effects for people living in the region. #SeeingTheSeas go.nasa.gov/3n2Kxy7
The height of the sea surface in the western and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean seesaws over time – when one is higher, the other is lower. This is driven on shorter timescales by two natural climate patterns: the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.
Every few years, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) pattern produces either an El Niño or a La Niña event. El Niños can increase West Coast sea level; while La Niñas can decrease it.