article_snippet.sent: Giant glaciers of ice may be lurking all over Mars, hidden from view by dust on the surface of Mars.
article_snippet.sent: That’s the surprising conclusion of a study that found that large amounts of ice were not just at the Martian poles, but likely towards the equator as well.
article_snippet.sent: It means that, if all ice were to be spread across the surface of MarsMars, the entire planet would be covered in more than 3.3ft (one metre).
article_snippet.sent: This image from Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows that a thick layer of dust on Mars covers the glaciers, so a thick layer of dust on Mars covers the glaciers appear as the surface of the ground, but radar measurements show that there are glaciers composed of frozen water underneath the dust .
article_snippet.sent: Images from several Martian satellites had revealed the shape of glaciers just below the surface, and confirmed most were made of water-ice.
article_snippet.sent: In total there is more than 150 billion cubic metres of ice on Mars, which could ‘cover the entire surface of Mars with 1.1 metres of ice,’ explained Dr Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson at the Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute.
article_snippet.sent: the Niels Bohr Institute added that the ice closer to the Martian equator was ‘an important part of Mars’ water reservoir.
article_snippet.sent: There are thought to be thousands of glacier-like formations on Mars in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
article_snippet.sent: Mars has belts of glaciers at Mars central latitudes - between the blue lines, in both the southern and northern hemispheres.
article_snippet.sent: A thick layer of dust covers glaciers, so They appear as the surface of the ground, but radar measurements show that there are glaciers composed of frozen water underneath the dust .
article_snippet.sent: Using radar measurements (shown) from Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers have been able to identify thousands of glacier-like formations on Mars.
article_snippet.sent: researchers can see how thick the ice closer to the Martian equator is on the radar images .
article_snippet.sent: As the ice closer to the Martian equator has not evaporated into space, the dust must be protecting the dust.
article_snippet.sent: If the ice closer to the Martian equator were unprotected, the ice closer to the Martian equator would evaporate and become water vapour, owing to the low atmospheric pressure on Mars.
article_snippet.sent: We have looked at radar measurements spanning ten years back in time to see how thick the ice closer to the Martian equator is and how the ice closer to the Martian equator behaves,’ Dr Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson explained.
highlights_snippet.sent: Danish scientists studied ice hidden under the surface of Mars .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Dust is thought to be covering huge glaciers on the surface of Mars .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: If spread out spread out would cover the surface of Mars in 3.6ft (1.1 metres) of ice .