THE cracks on the surface of Venus are the hallmarks of climate change, says
Pierre Moreels at NASA鈥檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
The hexagonal patterns of cracks on Venus鈥檚 surface have puzzled scientists
since 1990. Many thought lava flows had created the cracks by alternately
heating and cooling the basalt-like rock, a process that happens on Earth. But
when Moreels ran the pattern through a computer program, he found it repeats on
a scale of kilometres rather than centimetres, suggesting the cracks were caused
by huge swings in temperature.
鈥淭hese cracks trace out the climate history,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very different
to Earth鈥檚.鈥� Venus鈥檚 current surface temperature is a fiery 500 掳C, but it
may have fluctuated by as much as 200 掳C in the past.
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