Liquid water on early Mars

Abstract

We have used a simple climate model to determine the duration of liquid water habitats on early Mars following up on the previous work of McKay and Davis. We used the weathering model of Pollack et al. to compute the pressure and temperature evolution of the atmosphere. We included the variability of the solar luminosity. Recent results which have considered the influence of CO2 condensation suggest that Mars could not have been kept warm (above 0 °C) with only a dense CO2 atmosphere. New stellar evolution theories have suggested a more massive early sun to explain the lithium depletion in the sun and predict a warmer climate for early Mars. We have therefore modified the model of McKay and Davis to include the effects of CO2 condensation and the effect of a more massive early sun. Here we present the results of these additional effects on the duration of liquid water habitats on early Mars. We find that the increased luminosity suggested for the early sun when mass loss is taken into account can provide ...