Curious that they didn't suggest the liquid water explanation.
Most significant about the spiders is that they show a *dendritic* pattern, i.e., like a tree branching. In every other case where this has been seen, including the classic channels on Mars and the recent Malin/Edgett gullies, this has been taken as an indication of liquid water flow.
Since the two Science papers published this week one of which Byrne co-authored and the other of which appeared in electronic form in December both indicated near surface water (as ice) in the south polar regions you would think the water explanation would be close at hand.
Quite key here is the well-known fact that water can remain liquid under a ice-cover despite average subfreezing air temperatures:
APOD: 2003 January 28 - The Lost World of Lake Vida
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030128.html
Lake Hoare
http://www.everettak.org/~toby/antarctica/LakeHoare.html
Bob Clark
Space/Science » in reply to CO2 and the martian "spiders"
Liquid water and the Martian spiders.
The whole thread (30 posts)
- CO2 and the martian "spiders"