Many will have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the conclusion that liquid water is currently appearing on Mars.
The maximum temperatures exceeding 20 C near the equator such as at the Pathfinder site and at Gusev has been known since the Viking days. The atmospheric pressure always being above 6.1 mbars at the elevation of Pathfinder and Gusev has been known since Pathfinder (and could have been deduced from Viking since the Viking Lander 1 site was at approximately similar altitude and also showed the pressure always being above 6.1 mbars.)
Mars Odyssey has proven that Gusev and other localized sites near the equator have significant amounts of water.
The Spirit rover has already observed water containing minerals at the landing site.

The way Mars scientists are ignoring the data and visual indications of liquid water currently on Mars is analogous to the way the Spirit imaging scientists preferred to use an INFRARED imaging filter, forcing the blue sky to look red, to produce a VISUAL color image.

Bob Clark