Water On Mars?
Who are they trying to Kid?

Research conducted within the School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne

Mars' surface shows dramatic erosion channels that have conventionally been interpreted as the result of catastrophic outbursts of liquid water. Yet, everything we know about Mars argues that it is drier than the Earth, and all its water should be locked up as subsurface ice. At the present day, only isolated sunny slopes near the equator transiently warm to the melting point of ice at noon, and in the past the sun was cooler. In attempting to explain the flood channels as evidence of liquid water, planetary scientists have developed a host of concepts and models which are generally unworkable, often impossible, and collectively raise more problems than they solve.

My White Mars model explains all the existing problems about Mars' surface, atmosphere and evolution. It involves only one unusual aspect - that the active fluid agent for the outburst "floods" was the other Volatile - CO2.  The story of CO2 on Mars is as rich and complex as the story of water on Earth.

News and Comments on the new 2004 Landers - So far Spirit is down and safe, Beagle is lost, Mars express is in Orbit, and Opportunity is getting close...

  • Mars "Paradoxes"
  • Climate models of early Mars
  • Origin of layering on Mars
  • Channels and Canals
  • Water?
  • Outburst Floods are Cold and Dry
  • Analogues
  • Thermal State of Mars
  • Exploration of Mars
  • Implications for the "Habitable Zone"
  • A note on CO2 research on Mars   Also available as pdf
  • Speculative Concepts


    • Frequently Asked Questions about the White Mars model
     

    Also:-
    Links about Mars, CO2, Water etc.


              And my earlier website.

    Ph.D. Topics for research students - If you're a Science graduate with a good first degree and want to work with me on White Mars, here are some potential topics.

        New on June 13 2002

    Mars Odyssey discovers "the tip of an iceberg" - An "ocean of water on Mars". Ocean of bulldust, more likely

        New on January 1 2002

    Near-Polar channels are caught in the act of flowing at intensely cold temperatures, proving a role for CO2, and refuting water models.

    A summary of a presentation that I gave in August 2001 to the GeoMars Conference, to JPL, and to NASA Ames.

    Near-Polar Channels on Mars

        Previous Conferences:

    Abstracts for the 33rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, March  2002

    Abstracts for the conference "Geophysical Detection of Subsurface Water on Mars" August 2001

    Abstracts for the Australian Astrobiology Workshop in Sydney, July 2001

    Abstracts for the 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, March  2001

    Abstracts for the 5th International Mars conference 1999

    Also:-

    Obtain the full text of the "Icarus" peer-reviewed scientific paper, courtesy of and copyright IDEAL Press.

    This is a  pdf file ~900K in size. How to download? - If your browser supports pdf viewing it may automatically download, otherwise try Shift-Click (Netscape) to download the link as a file, or right click to bring up a menu from which you can choose "Save link As", or similar.

          Created: May 21st 2002
          Last modified: May 24th 2002
          Authorised by:  Head, Earth Sciences

          Maintained by: Nick Hoffman
          Email: nhoffman@unimelb.edu.au