HR: 1340h
AN: P13A-0983    [Abstracts]
TI: Distribution, Exchange, and Topographic Control of Subsurface Ice on Mars
AU: * Aharonson, O
EM: oa@caltech.edu
AF: California Institute of Technology, MC 150-21, Pasadena, CA 91125 United States
AU: Schorghofer, N
EM: norbert@hawaii.edu
AF: University of Hawai'i, Institute for Astronomy 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 United States
AB: Spacecraft observations of a vast reservoir of subsurface ice on Mars raise an important question: does the distribution represent a record from a past climate with a different obliquity and humidity from today, or has it adjusted to, and is in equilibrium with, the present-day climate? We consider physical models, experiments, and observations in addressing this question of long-term thermal stability, as well as dynamical phenomena including seasonal accumulations and the response to surficial and environmental changes in the presence of adsorption. The effect of surface slope and slope distribution is investigated, and we find that depending on the length-scale, these slopes may have profound implications for the equilibrium ice table.
DE: 5462 Polar regions
DE: 6225 Mars
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting