Conditions for the appearance of interfacial liquid water at the northern hemisphere of Mars

Kereszturi, Ákos and Appere, Thomas (2014) Conditions for the appearance of interfacial liquid water at the northern hemisphere of Mars. In: Mars – Connecting Planetary Scientist in Europe, 5-7 June 2012, Budapest.

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Abstract

Analyzing the spatial and temporal occur-rence of surface water ice and temperature from low to high spatial resolution datasets, it can be seen that part of the area of the water ice annulus satisfies physical conditions for the presence of interfacial water, at least for the warmest part of the Martian days. THEMIS observation at Ls=44° shows patches of water ice at 186 K so the presence of interfacial water could also be possible during the afternoon for the second half of northern spring. The threshold temperature for the formation of interfacial water only depends on the near surface atmospheric water content. However, this parameter is poorly known and instead atmospheric column water vapor content is used. The above-mentioned 190 K is relevant for the average atmospheric va-por content on Mars of 10 pr-μm. During northern spring, the atmospheric water vapor concentration may be higher and can reach 40 pr-μm at Ls=70-75° at the location of the water ice annulus (~75°N) according to TES measurements. The seasonal period when liquid interfacial water may be present shows the maximal duration at latitudes of 44-55N, while it is substantially shorter at higher latitude with around 8-10 days. The number of days with temperature above 180 K for the best longitudinal region (300°-330°E) at 55-70N is 10-30 days or sols. Between about 45-55N the duration peaks between 80 and 110 days. Moreover, water ice is likely present on the surface for a twice longer period if one includes autumn to this analysis, probably around 200 days of presence at 50°N.

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