Publication Date:
2013-08-31
Description:
The Martian regolith is the most substantial volatile reservoir on the planet; it holds CO2 as adsorbate, and can exchange that CO2 with the atmosphere-cap system over timescales of 10(exp 5) to 10(exp 6) years. The climatic response to insolation changes caused by obliquity and eccentricity variations depends in part on the total reservoir of adsorbed CO2. Previous estimates of the adsorbate inventory have been made by measuring the adsorptive behavior of one or more Mars-analyog materials, and deriving an empirical equation that described that adsorption as a function of the partial pressure of CO2 and the temperature of the regolith. The current CO2 inventory is that which satisfies adsorptive equilibrium, observed atmospheric pressure, and no permanent CO2 caps. There is laboratory evidence that H2O poisons the CO2 adsorptive capacity of most materials. No consideration of CO2 - H2O co-adsorption was given in previous estimates of the Martian CO2 inventory, although H2O is present in the vapor phase, and so as adsorbate, throughout the regolith.
Keywords:
LUNAR AND PLANETARY EXPLORATION
Type:
Lunar and Planetary Inst., The Twenty-Fifth Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Part 3: P-Z; p 1543-1544
Format:
application/pdf
