Computational Study of the Water Cycle at the Surface of Mars

• Author / Creator

  Zubik, Jakub Tadeusz

• To understand the water cycle on Mars, details of mass and energy transfer between the surface and the atmosphere are of importance. A complete model, involving transient variations of the water in gaseous and solid phases in the atmosphere and the regolith, is developed and solved numerically for results. The diffusion of water vapour in the ground is treated for Knudsen and thermal diffusion effects. Numerical simulations of the evening hours of Sol 70 of the Phoenix mission confirmed that a deposition of water can occur. The results show how phase change occurred right after the temperature of air is cooled down below the frost point and deposited on the surface as frost, then sublimated back into the atmosphere in the morning. Results of the two-dimensional model show that there are additional spatial fluctuations of fog structure resulting from variations in the nature and slope of the local terrain.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Diffusion
  • Thermal diffusion
  • Porous Media
  • Terrestrial Water
  • Frost
  • CFD
  • Mass Transport
  • Phoenix Mission
  • Regolith
  • Mars
  • Numerical Methods
  • Radiation
  • Thermo-diffusion
  • Fog

• Graduation date

  Fall 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R33D2P

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.