Martian Ice Canopy

The Martian Ice Canopy is the above ground ice layer that covers every forest outside Martian Green Belt. No one predicted how fast modified forests would be able to spread on their own, but by this time Red Well had covered the planet from pole to pole, and the tree canopy followed behind. The face of mars transformed in less than a century, the oxygen filling atmosphere began to thicken, and for the first time Martians could walk about regions of the planet surface without the need of life support.
However fortunate as this development was it quickly grew out of control. Due to the rising oxygen levels the natural equilibrium of Mars shifted so drastically that following a brief period of tropical temperatures, the Martian Ice Age crept in. First the poles froze, forming a glacier that gradually pushed towards the equator. As these glaciers approached the Martian forests, the modified cold resistant forest was able to persist beneath the ice, which became thin in the presence of high transpiration and warmer river currents sourced at the still warm equator. This layer of ice has become known as the Glaciosphere, but is commonly called the Martian Ice Canopy.
Adaptation being a long established creed of the Martian people, the MCA endevered to embrace the Martian ice age. As Martians had first used artificial greenhouses in the early days of terraformation, they learned from the forests to adapt the ice canopies into natural greenhouses. They have since all but perfected the art of utilizing these for agriculture and cultivation of ecology. In recent years the canopy line has showed signs of retreating from the equator. In the wake of the vulcanalia martian temperatures now fluctute as mars and jupiter orbit beside eachother; creating the vulcan warm season; lasting about 7 years.

"We will do what Martians have always done. We will not resist this planet, but evolve alongside it."

-- Senator Diedre