The temperature on Mars is relatively low, averaging about minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 60 degrees Celsius).
According to Rummel, the humidity of Mars is tied to temperature fluctuations. At night, relative humidity levels can rise to 80 to 100 percent, with the air sometimes reaching atmospheric saturation. The daytime air is far drier, due to warmer temperatures.
"Such short-term wet periods might be long enough and warm enough to allow for Earth organisms to metabolize and even reproduce," said Rummel. During a Martian summer, the polar ice cap, composed mainly of carbon dioxide ice, shrinks and may disappear altogether. When winter comes, the ice cap grows back. There may be some liquid water trapped beneath the carbon dioxide ice sheets, scientists say. In the past, Mars may have been warmer and wetter, with an average global temperature of 50 degrees F .
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