Laboratory investigations of the physical state of CO 2 ice in a simulated Martian environment

Portyankina, G.; Merrison, J.; Iversen, J.J.; Yoldi Martínez de Mandojana, Zuriñe; Hansen, C.J.; Aye, K.-M.; Pommerol, Antoine; Thomas, Nicolas (2019). Laboratory investigations of the physical state of CO 2 ice in a simulated Martian environment. Icarus, 322, pp. 210-220. Elsevier 10.1016/j.icarus.2018.04.021

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We have experimentally investigated CO
2
ice condensation under conditions similar to those expected
in the Martian polar areas using the Environmental Wind Tunnel of Aarhus University in the framework
of Trans-National Access opportunities within the EuroPlanet Research Infrastructure. Our goal was to
condense CO
2
directly from the chamber’s atmosphere onto a specially designed cooling plate. We inves-
tigated ranges of temperatures and pressures similar to those in Martian polar areas, observed the texture
of the created CO
2
ice layer, and measured its optical properties. Most importantly, we find that under
conditions usual for Martian polar areas in fall and winter, CO
2
ice always deposits as a translucent slab.
The maximum thickness of the ice that we have achieved approached 2 cm and this CO
2
slab ice layer
was either transparent or highly translucent. Under significantly lower temperatures or in states away
from equilibrium (for example, when CO
2
gas input into the chamber was fast and created over-pressure)
CO
2
deposited as different crystalline structures. In this case, when a thick layer was created, it was not
visually transparent. However, even in those cases it still retains some level of translucency. Our results
will advance the analysis of remote-sensing data related to CO
2
ice, Mars’ seasonal cycles, and various
models considering CO
2
ice condensation-sublimation related processes.

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