Are Bodies of Water on Mars?

Mars from a small telescope.

  Mars, named after the Roman god of war because of its red color, is now a common interest at astronomers, and space agencies, like NASA, Space X, JAXA, and ROSCOSMOS. The Red Planet is labeled in the zone, where the planet has temperatures that might could harbor life and have liquid water. Water, not bodies of water, has been confirmed that the Red Planet is wet, but is there enough water for life?

Mars Rover Curiosity looks at
its tracks on the wet Mars soil.
Courtesy of NASA/JPL.

  Spacecrafts and rover on the red planet had given proof that rivers and oceans once existed on Mars. However, due to the thin atmosphere of Mars, many liquid water either evaporated into space, or seeped into the interior of the planet. Near the equator, where the rovers do their observations, discovered many recurring slope lineae on the soil, with seasonal dark streaks, suggests that salt water is flowing on the planet. Curiosity had discovered many rocks that has touched water billions of years ago, and Spirit discovered rich silica in the soil, giving proof of water. Gullies has been found on the surface and can help scientists see liquid origin of flow. Nola Redd describes, "Water on Mars may be doing something more than sitting pretty. A new study reveals that when the liquid boils, thanks to low pressures, it can make the sand levitate." The dust storms that happen on Mars closes the gap how dusts are lift into the air, when the surface is supposed to be wet, is because of under pressurizing the water, which then causes the water to dry out.

Mars, see the Ice Caps on the poles?
Ice caps are a big sign of water.
Courtesy of The Independent.

  In the winter, large ice caps are visible and are about 2 miles thick, covering almost to the equator. Ice caps shows a large sign of water on Mars, except it's frozen water. Scientists had found a gigantic piece of ice as big as California and Texas under the surface of the planet, between the equator and the north pole. Jacob Batchelor states that underneath the ice cap in the south pole, there is a body of water, found by the ESA's Mars Express probe, used radio waves and has confirmed the found. Nola Redd adds on, "Some high-latitude regions seem to boast patterned ground-shapes that may have formed as permafrost in the soil freezes and thaws over time.", meaning that ice still forms in high places on Mars. Probes have also shown proof of ice, like the Phoenix Lander, which discovered a bright material that disappeared after four days, and detected water vapor in the sample. 

With the probes, NASA has determined
where the subsurface water deposit is.
Scientists hypothesize that the water
is salty, thus it doesn't freeze.
Courtesy of NASA/JPL.

  Underground lakes have been detected by ground penetrating radar, which sends pulses of radar and waits for it to return, and then determines how the interior of the planet looks like. Nola Redd supports, "MARSIS also revealed the presence of a subsurface lake among the pockets. According to the radar echoes, the lake is no more than 12.5 miles (20 km) across, buried nearly a mile beneath the surface. The scientists aren't certain of the lake's depth, but they have confirmed that it is at least 3 feet (1 meter) deep. According to the researchers, the lake must have salt to keep from freezing." The 'underground lake' is found by radar, and is inferred to be salty, so that is why it does not freeze.

Slope Lineae kept on returning,
may show the flow of salty water.
Courtesy of NASA/JPL/

  However, despite all these facts, some scientists disagree that water is present on Mars. Many scientists argue that the 'proof' of water, like cuts and streaks on a rock, could have also been cut by the sand, and the slopes on planet looks more of dry sand, than liquid water. Except then, how do they reason the tracks from the rovers, and the 'white' stuff that appears on the poles every winter that is clearly visible from spacecrafts orbiting Mars.

  So what do you think? Does water exists on Mars, or is this only a theory?

Bibliography:

Redd. Nola. "Water on Mars: Exploration & Evidence" Space.com. August 17, 2018. Retrieved at: September 14, 2018 from:
https://www.space.com/17048-water-on-mars.html/. 

Batchelor, Jacob. “Liquid Water On Mars.” Science World, 17 Sept. 2018, p. 5.