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Solar System Ices pp 477–507Cite as

Mars CO2 Ice Polar Caps

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Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library ((ASSL,volume 227))

Abstract

The Martian Polar caps have been observed for more than two centuries by terrestrial observers. Following the first observations by J. Cassini and C. Huygens, Herschel (1784) first described their seasonal characteristics. From Earth, they appear like white bright features waxing and waning over a Mars year. Because of the 25.1° inclination of Mars’equator to its orbit plane, the seasons on Mars are much like their terrestrial counterparts. By analogy with the Earth, most observers assumed that the Martian polar caps were composed of water frost, until the first space probes to Mars. Following the Mariner 4 mission in 1965, Leighton and Murray (1966) used a simple thermal model to reveal the processes which control the Martian seasonal polar caps: during the fall and winter seasons at high latitudes, the local surface and atmospheric temperatures become cold enough to reach the frost point of CO2, the major constituent of the thin Martian atmosphere. CO2 condenses and forms CO2 ice deposits on the surface. During the spring and summer seasons in a given hemisphere, the seasonal CO2 cap sublimates back into the atmosphere. Spectroscopic observations later confirmed the CO2 composition (Herr and Pimentel, 1969; Larson and Fink, 1972).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique du CNRS, Université Paris 6, 4, pl- Jussieu, 75252, Paris Cedex 05, France

    François Forget

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  1. François Forget
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  1. Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l’Environnement, Grenoble/Saint Martin d’Hères, France

    B. Schmitt

  2. Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France

    C. De Bergh

  3. Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse, France

    M. Festou

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Forget, F. (1998). Mars CO2 Ice Polar Caps. In: Schmitt, B., De Bergh, C., Festou, M. (eds) Solar System Ices. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 227. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5252-5_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5252-5_20

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