| Search
for life on Mars
in Canada's Arctic
North.cbc.ca
Posted July 30, 2003
 AXEL
HEIBERG ISLAND, NUNAVUT - A study of springs and ice-covered
lakes in Canada's High Arctic could help point scientists
to life on Mars.
Researchers from McGill University have been studying the
aquatic environments at Expedition Fiord on Axel Heiberg island.
The area contains the most northerly perennial springs in
Canada. Nancy Martineau says these springs maintain a temperature
of about 5 C all year – despite winter air temperatures
that dip below -40 C.
Martineau, a Ph.D. student at McGill University, says she's
interested in the springs because of her passion for Mars
exploration.
"I got interested in Arctic research because of the
analogue it provides for the Martian environment," she
says.
The same is true for Dale Andersen, who is also completing
a Ph.D. through McGill. Andersen is an American working for
the SETI institute in California. SETI stands for the Search
for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
Andersen has been studying the springs, but he's also looking
beneath the surface of ice-covered lakes to see what types
of life can be found there.
"It was really this search for life on Mars and the
comparisons that we were making from Antarctica to Mars, particularly
with the perennially ice-covered lakes down there, and we
were interested in finding perennially ice-covered lakes in
the Canadian High Arctic," he says.
Andersen says understanding how life survives in perennial
springs and ice-covered lakes in the polar regions will direct
them to similar features on Mars as they look for evidence
of Martian life.
North.cbc.ca
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