Previous missions “discovered ripples formed by water flowing across the surface of ancient Mars, but it was uncertain if that water ever pooled to form lakes or shallow seas,” Grotzinger ...

Ancient ripples suggest a warmer, wetter past for the Red Planet that supported open water on its surface.

This led the researchers to deduce that the lake was shallow, at less than about 2 meters deep. The researchers assert that the ripples represent wind blowing on open water. Some studies in the past ...

created as wind-driven water laps back and forth. The two sets of ripples indicate the former presence of shallow water that was open to the Martian air, not covered by ice as some climate models ...

In 2022, NASA's Curiosity Rover discovered two sets of wave ripples at the bottom of Gale Crater, suggesting the previous presence of shallow water that was open to the Martian atmosphere ...