Vincent
]]>I've heard that H2O2/ H2O solutions could be liquid down to -57 C.
]]>We know water is there in frozen form. We know that the pressure at the surface is above the triple point of water or 6.1 millibars. We know that the temperatures in this region have reached +95F. We know that water can stay liquid on Earth to -10F.
So we have water on the planet and all the parameters have been met so it could be water.
We know CO2 is there in the form of ice. The surface pressure is well below the 5000 millibars needed for liquid CO2. Temperatures would need to be below -80C. So pressure and Temp would rule out liquid CO2.
I know of no other possibilities, maybe some one else does.
I believe CO2 gas is the subterranean propellant as water rises closer to the surface and CO2 is released from the water.
Hear is another eruption area close to Endurance crater. Nice vent in the red box.
Vincent
that feature is clearly caused by liquid, but are we sure it's water?
]]>We know a couple of things for sure:
Mars has global dust storms on a regular bases so any water in the first 3 ft is recent. With the low daytime humidity values it could not survive for long in that environment.
All of the spacecraft have shown areas of catastrophic surface eruptions, floods. The rover Opportunity has seen evidence of recent ground water eruptions. Ground water is still the source.
Sol 120 Oppy
Vincent
I think some of the water did freeze before it evaporated.
The question is, is it gone or sill there?
Hi Vincent, welcome to New Mars.
Here are some maps made by the Mars Odyssey probe showing the mass fraction of water in the first meter (3 ft) or so of Martian soil ...
]]>The question is, is it gone or sill there?
http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Mars_Express/S … M4E_1.html
Vincent
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[url=http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn12866-vast-amount-of-water-ice-may-lie-on-martian-equator.html]Vast amount of water ice may lie on Martian equator
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The question is: is it ice or volcanic ash ?
]]>If an ocean like the one below has been on Mars, where is the water now? Any explanations?
Well, I think that the current theory says that the oceans were huge but shallow.
And a good portion of it is in the regolith now.
There is still enough water on Mars now to flood entire planet with 35 m deep water.
Your thinking is too simple.The water will not simply freeze on the surface, it is frozen in the regolith, polar caps, a bit of it is in the atmosphere...
MAVEN and MARVEL, the Discovery Program projects NASA is funding and will chose for the next Mars Scout mission will both focus on the Martian atmosphere. Depending on what they kind...and also what New Horizon finds about Pluto's atmosphere and its even flimbsier atmosphere, we can make better deductions about what became of the Martian vapors.
Given the Martian physical features and comparing them to Earth with its ocean floor...yeah I agree the Northern Hemisphere must have once been drenched in water once. Given that water flows to the lowest spot...hey where else will it drain to aside from Hellas in the south?
]]>The evidence for this is that there are two landforms that look like they are beaches and hills eroded at a constant level from wave action. Also the northern plain is really flat. Flatter than the Earth's abysmal plains.
Now I was cheating a little when I said constant level. Some areas of eroded cliff land forms (if that is what they are) are at higher levels. However that could be explained by the rising and lowering of land caused by the Tharis Bulge.
As for where the ocean is gone, some of the water has disassociated and the hydrogen was lost. But a lot of the water is still right there, frozen as permafrost and covered with dust, and rubble from small meteorite strikes.
This is (fairly briefly) discussed in:
"Mars: A Warmer Wetter Planet" by Dr Jeffrey S. Kargel.
Warm regards, Rick.
]]>But I'm a Belgian, so maybe I'm not the best one around to judge these kind of things, heehee!
]]>PS: Please excuse my english.
]]>The NASA picture depicts one of the possibilities, and some planetary scientists think they can see an ancient shoreline, so it is not totally impossible.
And yes, most of the polar caps are CO2 during winter, but there's still quite an amount of water-ice during summers still there. So you see these caps very noticeably shrink and grow in size, every Martian year.
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