Comments on: There is way more CO2 in Martian Polar Cap than previously thought

By: Lowes Printable Coupon

Lowes Printable Coupon — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 08:26:01 +0000

Wow that’s a hell of a news. May be excessive CO2 was the reason why it has it’s oceans dried out?

By: Alan

Alan — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 05:31:40 +0000

RE #2 – “…and thus increase temperature”.

I don’t think it’s that simple. It’s unclear to me that releasing the CO2 deposit into the Martian atmosphere would actually warm Mars. I’m not a cliamtologists but as I understand it the warming effect of CO2 depends on pressure. This is why on Earth the stratosphere is cooling while the troposphere is warming, even though both layers have rising CO2 concetrations.

By: Birger Johansson

Birger Johansson — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 02:47:01 +0000

This deposit alone if returned to the atmosphere would nearly double the atmospheric pressure and thus increase temperature. It would still not be enough for liquid water to exist on the surface, though.
Add some Kuiper-belt object rich in methane, and we would get some real warming. I doubt even all the new sources of ice and carbon dioxide are enough to bring the atmospheric pressure up to one bar, so external sources of volatiles (an idea I think originate with Freeman Dyson) are a must, if you are thinking of actual terraforming.

By: Charles Sullivan

Charles Sullivan — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 23:29:12 +0000

I wonder if this would make it easier (relatively speaking) for humans to modify the Martian atmosphere in order to increase the atmospheric pressure.