Mars Plume - Scientists across the world are struggling to come up with a definite theory to explain why unusually high plumes have been seen climbing up to 250 km high in a particular region on the southern hemisphere of the red planet.
Although the atmosphere of Mars is known to display similar phenomena, scientists say these clouds or auroras are usually only 100 km high.
"At about 250 km, the division between the atmosphere and outer space is very thin, so the reported plumes are extremely unexpected," Agustin Sanchez-Lavega, the lead author of the study published in the journal Nature, explains.
The unusual plumes were reportedly first sighted by amateur space explorers for about 10 days in March and April 2012. The plumes, which varied daily, are estimated to have been up to 1000 X 500 km wide. They are reported to have been visible for about 10 hours.
"Remarkably...the features changes rapidly, their shapes going from double blob protrusions to pillars or finger-plume-like morphologies," the scientists wrote.
According to the scientists, the plumes on mars could be either clouds of water or carbon dioxide particles, or powerful auroras.
"We favor the cloud scenario - the condensation of water or carbon dioxide - since the plume formed in the cold mornings, but we note for this to occur, a large drop in temperature is required at 200 km, something not foreseen by any atmospheric model," Sanchez-Lavega explains.
"Another idea is that they are related to an auroral emission, and indeed auroras have been previously observed at these locations, linked to a known region on the surface where there is a large anomaly in the crustal magnetic field," Antonio Garcia Munoz, a researcher and co-author of the study, reveals.
