Several PSI scientists went to Whitehorse, Yukon to participate in the Eighth International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration.
PSI attendees included Oded Aharonson, Peter Buhler, Matt Chojnacki, Lior Rubanenko and Isaac Smith.
Aharonson discussed how exposing the water ice at the South Pole will affect the coupled CO2 and water cycles. Buhler presented using numerical modeling to show that a CO2 atmospheric collapse would lead to global-scale flooding and erosion. Chojnacki discussed the seasonal CO2 ice impact on dune migration in the north polar region. Rubanenko presented on the influence of ice and seasonality on the shape of dunes on Mars. And Smith discussed experiments with CO2 ice.
“Some of us from PSI got here early for the pre-conference field trip,” Smith said. They spent the long weekend in Kluane National Park, Yukon Territories visiting sites that are analogous to features on Mars.
The Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration is the latest in a continuing series of conferences held approximately every four years that is intended to promote the exchange of knowledge and ideas regarding the polar-/mid-latitude-related ice and climate science of Mars. This group is international and interdisciplinary, and welcomed scientists with relevant theoretical, experimental, or field experience from many countries on Earth.
The conference synthesized and expanded upon the current state of Mars polar research from diverse fields, including geology, atmospheric science, and climate science. Other topics included terrestrial analogs and current and future instruments or missions to investigate the Martian icy mid-latitude and polar environments.
Yukon was chosen as the site of this conference because of its proximity to unique polar geomorphic terrains in glacial and periglacial landscapes, including active glaciation and permafrost.