Other
Scientific paper
Nov 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996icar..124..268m&link_type=abstract
Icarus, Volume 124, Issue 1, pp. 268-279.
Other
54
Scientific paper
It has recently been suggested that large quantities of CO_2 could be sequestered within the martian polar deposits as CO_2 ice or CO_2 clathrate hydrate, stabilized against sublimation by a non-porous overburden of water ice. I investigate the phase stability of CO_2-bearing polar ices and place limits on the quantity of CO_2 that can be sequestered. The magnitude of this limitation follows from CO_2-bearing ices having thermal conductivities on the order of 5 to 6 times smaller than that of water ice, producing a higher geothermal gradient. Results indicate that only under favorable, and probably unrealistic, conditions an upper limit of 112 mbar of CO_2 can be sequestered as CO_2 clathrate or 254 mbar as CO_2 ice in the north polar deposit. More realistic conditions will limit CO_2 to no more than a few 10s of mbar. In either case, less CO_2 is also allowed and none is required by existing observations. The south polar deposit probably consists of a similar composition, but thinner deposits make placing limits difficult. Limited quantities of CO_2 in the polar regions primarily implies that large amounts of CO_2 are not released at high obliquity, reducing the magnitude of periodic climate change. In addition, climate-evolution models that predict large CO_2-bearing caps at present should be rejected, favoring models that do not predict extensive CO_2-bearing ice deposits.
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