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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#1
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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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Aug 16 2013, 08:16 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2090 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
Looks like the colors at around sol 73 or so are switched, with the max in blue and minimum in red; just a glitch?
Very nice chart otherwise, it will become more and more interesting as long term observations come in. |
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Aug 16 2013, 08:30 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1465 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Columbus OH USA Member No.: 13 |
Looks like the colors at around sol 73 or so are switched, with the max in blue and minimum in red; just a glitch? Very nice chart otherwise, it will become more and more interesting as long term observations come in. That's the way it is in the data file from http://data.marsweather.com/rems_climate.xml (sol 73). I was thinking of filtering that out, but there's also the weird dip lasting several sols around sol 295, which can't be real (can it?). So maybe it's best to just leave it as is. The pressure plot is interesting because of the local minimum of pressure--like there will be at least two minimums a year, assuming it's due to the solar cycle and not some other factor. -------------------- |
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Aug 16 2013, 10:13 PM
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#4
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Martian Photographer Group: Members Posts: 352 Joined: 3-March 05 Member No.: 183 |
The pressure plot is interesting because of the local minimum of pressure--like there will be at least two minimums a year, assuming it's due to the solar cycle and not some other factor. Right now, northern polar CO2 is starting to sublimate. Within a couple months, it'll be all gone and condensation in the south will dominate until southern spring approaches and the Sun begins to rise on the Southern seasonal cap. Maybe a local maximum around 8.8-8.9, around 460 or so? |
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