March 22, 2002

Odyssey has clearly detected surface water ice concentrations broadly distributed below 60o South latitude. This can be viewed as the limit where the 'average' temperature is below the ambient triple point of water.

One can presume then that water was transported from the upper regions of the surface, from the upper (mid) latitudes, where the 'average' temperature is occasionally above the ambient triple point of water over the timescales of the particular transport mechanism or model under consideration.

Clearly this hypothesis is not in conflict with the initial Odyssey results, where we observe a dearth of water (ice) in the upper surface of Mars, in the upper (mid) latitudes of Mars, as compared to the results below 60o South.

Clearly we will have to wait until the full Odyssey results are available before we can choose between various water (ice) distribution and transport models, based upon that evidence, but that does not prohibit us from continuing to refine the theoretical foundations of, and our empirical models of, water (ice) distribution and transport in the atmosphere, and on and under the surface of Mars, during the interim period.

Hopefully, some the the geologists interested in this subject will be making good use of that interim time, reevaluating their preconceptions about the hydrogeology and meteorology of Mars.

Best Regards,

Thomas Lee Elifritz
lifeform@atlantic.net
http://www.atlantic.net/~elifritz