Mars Images Hint at Recent Climate Swings

A dust layer sandwiched between layers of ice near Mars''s north pole suggests the planet''s climate has shifted dramatically in the past 100,000 years or so, reveal images recently obtained by NASA''s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Previous research has suggested that the tilt of Mars''s axis of rotation fluctuates from 10° to 40° with time, leading to major climate shifts.

Now MRO, which started returning close-up images of the Red Planet in late September 2006, has provided new evidence that Mars''s climate has undergone major shifts relatively recently.