Mars' Southern Half Is Weirdly Warm Underground. The 'Thermal Anomaly' Might Explain Why the Planet's Hemispheres Look So Different
Researchers used decades of spacecraft gravity data to map a partially molten southern interior and challenge assumptions about Mars's symmetry.
- On August 26, 2026, researchers published findings in Nature showing Mars' southern hemisphere interior is 200-400°C hotter than the northern half.
- Lead author Alexander Berne analyzed 16 years of data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using tidal tomography to model the planet's interior.
- The southern crust is about 15.5 miles thicker than the northern half, potentially trapping heat and preventing dissipation over billions of years.
- Berne stated, "Scientists usually assume that the interiors of planetary bodies are generally spherically symmetric, but this is not necessarily true," challenging conventional planetary models.
- Study co-author Nick Wagner, a geoscientist at Brown University, told Media he was "surprised how sharp the result was," suggesting implications for Mars' past plate tectonics.
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Tropical data reveal that the southern Mars scarf is about 200 to 400 degrees Celsius hotter than the north, which re-explains its surface differences and geological and aquatic history.
Mars' Southern Half Is Weirdly Warm Underground. The 'Thermal Anomaly' Might Explain Why the Planet's Hemispheres Look So Different
Researchers used a novel technique to figure out what's going on inside the Red Planet. The work suggests that the interior of the southern hemisphere is hundreds of degrees hotter than that of the northern hemisphere and partially molten
Mars's Interior is 400°C Hotter Under Southern Hemisphere
The planet Mars is a cold and dry world completely devoid of life, but billions of years ago things were much different. This is when Mars had a much warmer interior than it does today, resulting in active volcanism that replenished its atmosphere, a magnetic field that protected the planet from harmful solar and cosmic radiation, and a surface of flowing liquid water. But due to Mars’s small size, the interior cooled far faster than Earth’s has…
Mars's Southern Hemisphere May Be 400°C Hotter Deep Underground
Image Courtesy: NASA Mars may be cold and barren on the surface, but new research suggests its interior is not cooling evenly. Scientists have found evidence that the planet’s southern hemisphere could be up to 400 degrees Celsius hotter deep below the surface than its northern hemisphere, revealing a major difference in Mars’s internal structure. […] The post Mars’s Southern Hemisphere May Be 400°C Hotter Deep Underground appeared first on Wond…
Mars is a cold world on the outside, but is it also so on the inside? New research into the Red Planet's subsurface has revealed major anomalies. It turns out that Mars' southern hemisphere is up to 400 degrees warmer than its northern one. The discovery was made by a team of researchers led by Alexander Berne.
New research into the interior of Mars has revealed that the red planet is composed of two distinct hemispheres. Scientists have recently discovered a massive thermal anomaly deep beneath the Martian surface, adding further questions to the mystery of the extreme asymmetry between the planet's northern and southern hemispheres.
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