新的研究表明，火星曾經溫暖多雨

新的研究表明，火星曾經溫暖多雨

Scientists have learned a lot about Mars in recent years, and based on observations from the fancy hardware NASA has sent to the Red Planet, we know that it once held far more water than we see today.

近幾年來，科學家們對火星有了很多了解，根據美國國家航空航天局(NASA)發(fā)送給這顆紅色星球的奇特儀器的觀測結果，我們知道它曾經擁有的水比我們今天看到的要多得多。

But knowing there was lots of water (or at least abundant ice) on Mars long ago doesn’t necessarily tell us what the climate was like.

但知道很久以前火星上有很多水(或者至少是豐富的冰)，并不一定能告訴我們當時的氣候是怎樣的。

Without a time machine, we can’t know exactly what ancient Mars looked like, but researchers have come up with a pretty solid guess.

沒有時間機器，我們無法確切地知道古代火星是什么樣子的，但研究人員得出了一個相當可靠的猜測。

Using data from NASA’s CRISM spectrometer and the Curiosity rover, scientists have a good idea of what kinds of minerals are present in the Martian soil. And using various areas of Earth as analogs, they can observe the conditions that caused similar mineral deposition patterns on our planet and assume that similar climates were responsible for their formation on Mars as well.

利用美國宇航局CRISM光譜儀和好奇號探測器的數據，科學家們對火星土壤中存在的礦物質有了很好的了解。利用地球的不同區(qū)域作為類似物，他們可以觀察到在我們的星球上造成類似礦物沉積模式的條件，并假設類似的氣候也是它們在火星上形成的原因。

At the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference in Barcelona this week, Purdue University professor Briony Horgan announced the findings of a new research effort that draws comparisons between the climate of present-day Earth with that of ancient Mars.

在本周于巴塞羅那舉行的戈德施密特地球化學會議上，普渡大學教授布里奧尼·霍根宣布了一項新的研究成果，該研究將當今地球的氣候與古代火星的氣候進行了比較。

“Our study of weathering in radically different climate conditions such as the Oregon Cascades, Hawaii, Iceland and other places on Earth, can show us how climate affects pattern of mineral deposition like we see on Mars,” Horgan said.

霍根說：“我們對俄勒岡瀑布、夏威夷、冰島和地球上其他地方等極端不同氣候條件下的風化作用的研究，可以向我們展示氣候如何影響我們在火星上看到的礦物沉積模式。”

“This leads us to believe that on Mars 3 to 4 billion years ago, we had a general slow trend from warm to cold, with periods of thawing and freezing.”

“這讓我們相信，在30億到40億年前的火星上，我們經歷了一個從溫暖到寒冷的緩慢過程，有解凍和凍結的時期。”

The study dives deep into the nuances of various mineral deposits such as silica, which the scientists believe hints at melting ice. This suggests that the planet had some ups and downs with regard to temperature, with warm periods characterized by occasional rains and then colder periods where everything was frozen.

這項研究深入研究了各種礦藏的細微差別，比如科學家們認為有跡象表明冰層正在融化的二氧化硅。這表明，地球在溫度方面有一些起伏，溫暖的時期以偶爾下雨為特征，然后是寒冷的時期，所有的東西都被凍結了。

Mars today is frigid compared to Earth, and that’s largely owed to the fact that the planet’s atmosphere has been almost entirely stripped away.

今天的火星與地球相比是寒冷的，這很大程度上是由于這個星球的大氣層幾乎完全被剝奪了。

Billions of years ago, the planet is thought to have had a much more robust atmosphere that would have aided in it retaining heat.

數十億年前，人們認為這顆行星的大氣層要活躍得多，有助于它保持熱量。

A temperate climate with rain and flowing water certainly sounds like a recipe for life as we know it, but we may have to wait and see what the Mars 2020 rover has to say about that once it arrives in early 2021.

氣候溫和，雨水充足，水流湍急，這聽起來就像我們所知道的生命之道，但我們可能要等一等，看看2020年火星探測器2021年初抵達火星后會說些什么。