Determining Priorities for Future Mars Polar Research: Third International Workshop on Mars Polar Energy Balance and the CO2 Cycle; Seattle, Washington, 21–24 July 2009

Abstract

Since 1997, five spacecraft have observed Mars's polar processes, resulting in an unprecedented amount of data with ranges of spatial and spectral resolutions not available from prior missions in the 1960s and 1970s. The vast amount of new data and the complex nature of Mars's polar processes led Mars polar scientists from around the world to gather in a small group environment to discuss the data, models, and emerging theories.The expertise of the 36 attendees of the Third International Workshop on Mars Polar Energy Balance and the CO2 Cycle included remote sensing, laboratory experimentation, and climate modeling. Nearly all spacecraft instruments that have been or are currently being used to monitor Mars's carbon dioxide (CO2) cycle were represented.