Investigated
Could supersaturation occur on Mars?
Short answer
Image: phys.org
Yes. Observations from Mars Express and later Trace Gas Orbiter measurements indicate that Martian water vapour can exceed its equilibrium saturation level, especially at altitude and above aerosol layers. The harder question is what happens next: dust-assisted condensation appears efficient, while models disagree over whether extreme supersaturation could help explain early Mars’s warmer climate.
The views on this question
Two lenses on the same evidence. Source weight and the primary source ratio show what each rests on.
Early Mars
Source weight 44%Lens adapted to this topic: Supersaturation as a climate mechanism
A more expansive interpretation treats supersaturation not merely as a present-day measurement anomaly but as a potentially important climate process on ancient Mars. Climate studies explore whether retaining excess water vapour or forming high-altitude ice clouds could produce warming under Noachian conditions. These are model-based scenarios: they show possible effects under selected assumptions, rather than establishing that supersaturation drove early Mars’s climate.
- Early-Mars modeling studies examine whether supersaturated water vapour or high-altitude clouds could help resolve the planet’s ancient warm-climate problem.
- Some modeled scenarios produce substantial warming only when assumed supersaturation is very high and extends through relevant atmospheric levels.
- The early-Mars climate problem remains difficult even after considering greenhouse gases, clouds, impacts, volcanism, and other mechanisms.
- Homogeneous ice nucleation would require high supersaturation and was judged unlikely in an earlier Martian nucleation study, which favored dust-assisted nucleation.