NASA: Like Earth, Pluto is also Experiencing Climate Change

California - NASA scientists uncover high giant ice plateau as high as the Eiffel Tower on the Pluto dwarf planet in the Bladed Terrain region. According to a study published online in the Aug. 24 issue of Icarus, the region reveals evidence of climate change in Pluto.

Jeffrey Moore, a planetary scientist at NASA, said in a press release explaining that high methane ice deposits in the Bladed Terrain show Pluto experiencing climate variations. "Pluto will be warmer as the methane ice begins to evaporate," he said.

However, the team of scientists, not yet sure the cause of methane is evaporated. Therefore, in the study titled "Bladed Terrain on Pluto: Possible origins and evolution", the team tried to compare with similar structures on earth, penitentes. Penitentes are snow formations found in the highlands. They are in the form of snow and ice blades that harden and elongate, generally have a direction facing the sun.

Penitentes on earth are formed because there are small inconsistencies on the surface that can concentrate sunlight. Those places then melt faster. On earth, the process requires strong sunlight that is not blocked by clouds. That's why these snowballs are commonly in dry and tall places like Atacama, Chile.

On earth, this kind of terrain is not made of methane but from ice water and does not reach as high as it is in Pluto. Penitentes highest reaches 20 feet or about 6 meters.

In the team's journal states are not yet sure whether the conditions in Pluto are entirely a process of evaporation such as penitentes on earth or the peak grows due to freezing. However, they believe the area is cool enough to freeze methane. One of the most plausible reasons is the distance that is almost 40 times farther the distance between the sun and the earth.

Interestingly, both in Pluto and on earth, these conditions occur near the equator and only in high altitudes. This gives scientists the impression that the atmosphere and climate are important factors in the making of this condition.