Mars Water: The Truth Behind Its Blue Color and Recent Discovery Revealed

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SUMMARY

The recent discovery of a subsurface lake on Mars has sparked discussions regarding its color and the influence of the Martian atmosphere. Contrary to assumptions that the lake would appear red due to the Martian sky, scientific consensus indicates that the color of water is primarily determined by the absorption and scattering of light, with blue being the predominant color reflected. The Martian atmosphere, rich in dust and iron oxide, contributes to a reddish hue, but this does not directly dictate the color of the water. The lake's blue appearance in images may be attributed to post-production enhancements rather than natural color reflection.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of light absorption and scattering principles
  • Familiarity with Martian atmospheric composition and its effects on color perception
  • Knowledge of the properties of water and its interaction with light
  • Basic awareness of planetary geology and recent Mars exploration findings
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the properties of light absorption in water and its implications for color perception
  • Explore the composition of the Martian atmosphere and its impact on surface observations
  • Investigate recent findings from Mars missions regarding subsurface water and its characteristics
  • Learn about the techniques used in post-production image editing for scientific photography
USEFUL FOR

Astronomers, planetary scientists, educators, and anyone interested in the geological and atmospheric studies of Mars and the implications of water discovery on extraterrestrial bodies.

Delta2
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I guess water in Earth , in big lakes or seas, looks blue because the Earth's sky is blue and the water's surface reflects the sky.

Now if there would be some big lake of water at Mars, how the water surface colour would be? I guess the colour of Mar's sky which is red (right or wrong?)

It is just that the greek version of msn.com posted some news with a lake been discovered in Mars (beneath some sort of ice) and it shows the lake's colour (or the ice's colour) in blue, I guess that colour in the photo is added in post production.

Here is the news link, the text is greek but I suppose you all can see the photo
https://www.msn.com/el-gr/news/tech...καλύφθηκε-στον-άρη/ar-BBLby57?ocid=spartandhp
 
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Your assumption is not correct. The light falling on the water surface consist of all wavelengths, i.e. it is "white light". The reason why deep water in oceans appear blue is because majority of longer wavelengths are absorbed, and mostly blue is scattered and reflected.
 
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lomidrevo said:
Your assumption is not correct. The light falling on the water surface consist of all wavelengths, i.e. it is "white light". The reason why deep water in oceans appear blue is because majority of longer wavelengths are absorbed, and mostly blue is scattered and reflected.
Well your argument seems sort of correct but when you saying that my assumption is not correct, you mean that the colour of the sky has minimal effect on the colour of the water ?

And what is the colour of Martian Sky by the way ?
 
Delta² said:
Well your argument seems sort of correct but when you saying that my assumption is not correct, you mean that the colour of the sky has minimal effect on the colour of the water ?

Yes, that's what it means. The color of water mainly results from direct sunlight (which isn't blue) passing the water before and after it is scattered or reflected to the observer.

Delta² said:
And what is the colour of Martian Sky by the way ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_skies#The_color_of_the_Martian_sky
 
The martian atmosphere appears reddish because it contains a large amount of dust. A popular explanation is this dust has a high iron oxide [rust] concentr, but, this only partially accounts for the reddish hue. It has as much to do with particle size, which selectively affects the color of light that makes it through the atmosphere., and also accounts for how it appears at frequencies other than the visible spectrum.
 
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Given this filtering effect, can we conclude that water on Mars would in fact have a reddish tint, given that most of the light reaching the water is red?
 
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What about the lake on Mars, that nobody cared about in this thread, this is huge discovery!
Is it true or fake news?!
Do you have english version?
 
Deepblu said:
What about the lake on Mars,
It's a mile underground so isn't going to reflect anything.
 
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