Carbon dioxide-water clathrate as a reservoir of CO2 on Mars |
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| Authors: | A Dobrovolskis AP Ingersoll |
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| Institution: | Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA |
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| Abstract: | It has been suggested that the residual polar caps of Mars contain a reservoir of permanently frozen carbon dioxide which is controlling the atmospheric pressure. However, observational data and models of the polar heat balance suggest that the temperatures of the Martian poles are too high for solid CO2 to survive permanently. On the other hand, the icelike compound carbon dioxide-water clathrate (CO2 · 6H2O) could function as a CO2 reservoir instead of solid CO2, because it is stable at higher temperatures. This paper shows that the permanent polar caps may contain several millibars of CO2 in the form of clathrate, and discusses the implications of this permanent clathrate reservoir for the present and past atmospheric pressure on Mars. |
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