Space Probe Finds Giant Frozen Sea on Mars

A European space probe scanning the surface of Mars has discovered what scientists say appears to be a giant frozen sea near the planet's equator.

The discovery was the first of a body of what may be water that has been found away from the polar ice caps and was revealed by the Mars Express spacecraft that has been orbiting and photographing the planet for a year.

Although the high resolution images only cover an area a few tens of kilometers across, they are in what appears to be a flood plain measuring a massive 800 kilometers long by 900 kilometers wide.

Note that as an ellipse with those dimensions and a uniform 45m depth, the original flood could have contained around 6100mi³ of water, or approximately twice the volume of Lake Superior. That's a lot of water.

[belated hat tip: Sven Knuth]