New evidence for surface water ice in small‐scale cold traps and in three large craters at the north polar region of Mercury from the Mercury Laser Altimeter

Abstract

AbstractThe Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) measured surface reflectance, rs, at 1064 nm. On Mercury, most water‐ice deposits have anomalously low rs values indicative of an insulating layer beneath which ice is buried. Previous detections of surface water ice (without an insulating layer) were limited to seven possible craters. Here we map rs in three additional permanently shadowed craters that host radar‐bright deposits. Each crater has a mean rs value >0.3, suggesting that water ice is exposed at the surface without an overlying insulating layer. We also identify small‐scale cold traps (<5 km in diameter) where rs >0.3 and permanent shadows have biannual maximum surface temperatures <100 K. We suggest that a substantial amount of Mercury's water ice is not confined to large craters but exists within microcold traps, within rough patches and intercrater terrain.