Washington, August 5: NASA scientists have announced that they have found the first evidence of flowing water on Mars.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has detected signs of what appear to be seasonal flows of salty water on the surface of the red planet during warmer months.

The finding increases the possibility that life exists on Mars.

"NASA''''s Mars Exploration Program keeps bringing us closer to determining whether the Red Planet could harbor life in some form, and it reaffirms Mars as an important future destination for human exploration," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

MRO observations have tracked the seasonal changes in the dark, finger-like features appear and extend down Martian slopes late spring through summer, fade in winter, and return during the next spring.

Images sent by MRO show dark, finger-like streaks appearing and extending down some Martian slopes during late spring through summer, fade in winter, and return during the next spring.

"The best explanation for these observations so far is the flow of briny water," said lead author Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Some aspects of the observations still puzzle researchers, but flows of liquid brine fit the features'''' characteristics better than alternate hypotheses. Saltiness lowers the freezing temperature of water.

"These dark lineations are different from other types of features on Martian slopes," said MRO project scientist Richard Zurek of NASA''''s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"Repeated observations show they extend ever farther downhill with time during the warm season."

A flow initiated by briny water could rearrange grains or change surface roughness in a way that darkens the appearance. How the features brighten again when temperatures drop is harder to explain.

"It''''s a mystery now, but I think it''''s a solvable mystery with further observations and laboratory experiments," McEwen said.

These results are the closest scientists have come to finding evidence of liquid water on the planet''''s surface today.

The study is published in Thursday''''s edition of the journal Science. (ANI)