Temperature and pressure at Gale, Suitable (for short periods) for liquid water? |
Temperature and pressure at Gale, Suitable (for short periods) for liquid water? |
Sep 30 2012, 03:23 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 62 Joined: 11-July 11 Member No.: 6058 |
Just a quick query from someone with no background in science. Obviously, MSL has AFAIK not returned evidence of recent (i.e. years/decades) liquid water in its vicinity; however, I was interested by the following graphs:
08.21.2012: First Pressure Readings on Mars http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4501 08.21.2012: Taking Mars' Temperature http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4502 The first indicates that the pressure between 15 Aug and 18 Aug never dropped below c. 690 millibars; the second shows that, for a period of a couple of hours on 16 Aug, the temperature rose above freezing. If water had been present on the surface, then, would it have been liquid during this brief period? The pressure and temperature seemed to satisfy the conditions for liquid water as I understand them (indeed, the pressure seems to be high enough (just) on a 24-hour basis to allow for the presence of liquid water). Thanks in advance for your opinions (corroborative or not!) on this. |
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Oct 1 2012, 05:49 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 507 Joined: 10-September 08 Member No.: 4338 |
I think one can make a case for transient wetting under certain conditions. Suppose there is overnight frost concentrated , let's say, in a cold trap area. In the early morning while the air temperature is still well below freezing, the thin frost cover might produce a green house effect on the soil beneath, especially for an east-facing slope, so that it warms above freezing. So there might be brief wetting underneath a vanishing frost cover.
Obviously this can only happen at locations and times where there is overnight frost. The Opportunity rover has shown this can occur even in equatorial regions. It would be nice to have orbital surveys of where and when frost occurs. |
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