Coupling Planet Simulator Mars, a general circulation model of the Martian atmosphere, to the ice sheet model SICOPOLIS

A general circulation model of the Martian Atmosphere is coupled with a 3-dimensional polythermal ice-sheet model of the polar ice caps. With this combination a series of experiments is carried out to investigate the impact of long-term obliquity change on the Martian north polar ice cap (NPC). The behaviour of the NPC is tested under obliquities of θ=15∘, 25∘ and 35∘. With increasing obliquity the area covered by the NPC gets smaller but does not vanish. However, when started from an ice-free condition the models develop an ice cap only for low obliquities. The 'critical' obliquity at which a build-up of a new polar cap is possible is θ=22∘.