Hi Barsoomer,
Re 391. I follow your point. If there were anhydrous perchlorates (or other anhydrous salts) present then they could bound water molecules as hydrates. For example lithium perchlorate trihydrate - LiClO4.3H2O. But the regolith never gets the thermal energy necessary to remove the water of hydration so I can't see how the cycle Zent was referring to could be attributed to perchlorates.
My feeling is that the regolith has thermal inertia characteristics much greater than modelled. Even a few centimeters coverage is enough to protect the permafrost ice. Has anyone seen any results on the soil temperature or thermal properties of the probe?
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