Quote:
Originally Posted by renormalised
Most of the polar water ice on Mars is on the south pole. The Northern pole is mostly CO2....it just about disappears during the northern summer. The water in both polar caps is protected from direct sublimation by a covering of dirt and sand. There's enough water in the south pole to cover Mars in a layer of water about 7-11 metres deep.
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Ok. So I've just read thru the Wiki entry on Mars. It has 70 matches for the word 'water'. Wherever claims about water are made, I've read thru the reference material. There is a lot of indirect evidence for the existence of 'big' water, mostly geological and mineralogical. The landers have sampled small amounts of water on the surface, also.
Most 'big' deposits are inferred to be at the poles. I say 'inferred' because the only measurement taken from orbit of the southern region were taken by the Mars Express MARSIS instrument which used primarily, ground penetrating radar as its detection mechanism. The radar could penetrate to considerable depths, but at the end of the day, the chemical composition of the material being penetrated is still inferred. Having said this, the lander samples are clearly
not inferred.
Whilst there is a lot of supporting evidence, models still play the key role in statements made about the abundance of 'big' H2O water on Mars.
I would never take a stand against a
martian geologist who lives on the south pole of Mars, however !
Cheers