18-04-2003 18:05									#1
	Why is there so little water on Mars? Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

The distance from the sun isn't much different... Less water asteroids hit Mars while the planets were forming, right? Why?

	18-04-2003 18:09									#2
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Both polar caps presumably consist of water(ice)... I wouldnt call it "so little".

	18-04-2003 18:48									#3
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Most of Mars' water is trapped as permafrost under the surface, there is probably as enough water to fill oceans.

	18-04-2003 18:54									#4
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See, what Lancer is really asking is, "Should I read more Science Fiction, especially "Red Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson?"

	18-04-2003 18:55									#5
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@ JohnT!

	18-04-2003 18:57									#6
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Am I able to get to the heart of the issue, or what?

Btw, Che, that's a hell of a book. Thanks!

	18-04-2003 19:16									#7
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So you should have taken my word on Snow Crash.

	18-04-2003 19:28									#8
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Actually, water asteroids had nothing to do with it. Water formed via a chemical process on the Earth. For a few hundred million years here, water was not to be found.

Furthermore, there is evidentely a good deal of water on Mars. Its just frozen a hundred meters beneath the surface.

	18-04-2003 19:34									#9
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"Red Mars" Commies capture Mars?!?



Thud, why is the water not on the surface like on Earth? If we warm Mars up, will the water deep down defrost and come to the surface?

	18-04-2003 19:36									#10
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Eli, I meant by comparison...

	18-04-2003 20:25									#11
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quote: Originally posted by Lancer The distance from the sun isn't much different... Less water asteroids hit Mars while the planets were forming, right? Why?

hi ,

with no atmosphere , there is no protection , ....

both cold and hot weather evaporate water , ....

have a nice day

	18-04-2003 21:30									#12
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The distance from the sun isn't much different... Less water asteroids hit Mars while the planets were forming, right? Why?

50,000,000 miles isn't that much different? Mars is cold.

Everybody's right... it's all frozen under and within the soil. Mars wasn't always this cold, but as it grew increasingly colder a lot of the exposed water just ablated into the atmosphere.

	18-04-2003 21:38									#13
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I remember reading a paper about this a few years ago in one of my Geology classes. At the time of formation the Earth and Mars both had roughly the same percentages of elements (meaning Mars had lots of water just like the Earth does) but due to its small size and the resulting lesser gravitational pull Mars had on gases and water vapor much of its gases drifted off into space. The water that remains is almost all in solid form which is unable to drift off.

	18-04-2003 21:45									#14
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Mars is a frozen desert. It's too cold for liquid water to exist on its surface and too cold to rain. The planet's atmosphere is also too thin to permit any significant amount of snowfall.

Even if some internal heat source warmed the planet up enough for ice to melt, it wouldn't yield liquid water. The Martian atmosphere is so thin that even if the temperature rose above freezing the ice would change directly to water vapor.

	18-04-2003 21:57									#15
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double post

	18-04-2003 21:57									#16
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Nah, all wrong...

The reason there is so little water on Mars is because of the martian bottled water export industry... it was all the rage!

	19-04-2003 02:21									#17
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Another very important detail. Once upon a time, mars wasn't cold. Actually it was HOT. but since Mars is smaller than earth, much more of the water vapor escaped, much the same way as its' atmosphere.

	19-04-2003 02:38									#18
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quote: Originally posted by Japher Nah, all wrong... The reason there is so little water on Mars is because of the martian bottled water export industry... it was all the rage!

until it eventually fizzled out, when people realized again that water came from the tap.

	19-04-2003 04:26									#19
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Most of Mars' air is frozen as dry ice. If all the dry ice was melted Mars would have an air pressure of Denver. If we would warm the polar regions by about 4 degrees Celsius a chain reaction would start and CO2 will begin evaporating, increasing air pressure, warming the planet more, and sets off a runaway greenhouse effect. when the water starts melting some of it will evaporate, and water vapor is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 is. Then you seed the planet with conifers, moss, lichen, algae, and cyanobacteria to oxygenate the air. Complete terraforming will probably take 500 to 1000 years. Mars will be just like it was a 1 billion years ago, a gem of contrasting blue and red.

	19-04-2003 06:39									#20
	Re: Why is there so little water on Mars? Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

quote: Originally posted by Lancer The distance from the sun isn't much different... Less water asteroids hit Mars while the planets were forming, right? Why?

The distance isn't much different???

Whilst the Earth is 1 "Astronomical Unit" away from the Sun, Mars is 1.52 "Astronomical Units" away from the Sun.


An "Astronomical Unit" is 92,956,000 miles or 149,598,000 km.


We are closer to Venus than we are to Mars and Venus is not a 10 minute bounce on a spacehopper away.



P.S Why is Mars drier? Bet it is because Mars is FAR less tectonically active than Planet Earth.

	19-04-2003 06:42									#21
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BTW, are we 1 AU away from the surface of the Sun, or are we 1 AU away from the core of the sun ? I know it is only a few thousand kilometres (insignificant), but I'm wondering...

	19-04-2003 06:50									#22
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quote: Originally posted by Spiffor BTW, are we 1 AU away from the surface of the Sun, or are we 1 AU away from the core of the sun ? I know it is only a few thousand kilometres (insignificant), but I'm wondering...

A few thousand kilometres??? You mad aswell

The distance from the Sun's core to the surface is approximately 432,500 miles / 696,000 kilometres.

I'm pretty sure that AU would be calculated from the core of planets and the Sun...wait, I'll get my measuring tape and check

	19-04-2003 06:56									#23
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My money is that the measurement is "core to core" but I don't know that for certain.

	19-04-2003 06:58									#24
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quote: Originally posted by kittenOFchaos The distance from the Sun's core to the surface is approximately 432,500 miles / 696,000 kilometres.

THAT much !?
Edit : I shouldn't try to do mental calculation at 04:00

	19-04-2003 07:25									#25
	Re: Re: Why is there so little water on Mars? Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: Originally posted by kittenOFchaos P.S Why is Mars drier? Bet it is because Mars is FAR less tectonically active than Planet Earth.

Mars doesn't have an active tectonic regime like the Earth does. Tectonic is powered by density differences that result from different temperature pressure regimes. Mars has a very weak magnetic field which scientists theorize means that most of it's core has solidified. No liquid outer core means no internal convection and ultamitely no plate tectonics.

We know this is true by looking at Martian mountain of Olympus Mons (the largest mountain in our solar system). Olympus Mons is a "hot spot" volcano meaning that unlike subduction regime volcanos (most of the world's volcanos) the source of the magma is a plume coming up out of the earth's mantle. On earth we have active plate techtonics so as the plate moves over the hot spot the result is a series of mountains which form an island change like the Hawaiin islands. There is no tell tale chain of mountains near Olympus Mons; instead the volcano just keep erupting in the same spot and building the mountain higher and higher.

	19-04-2003 13:39									#26
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Amazing...


Thanks for the replies.

Wish there would be a colony on Mars in my lifetime, but not much chance of that.

	19-04-2003 13:44									#27
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quote: Why is there so little water on Mars?

Little green men drank it all...

	19-04-2003 15:35									#28
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Does that mean there is alien piss on mars now?