The white clouds (usually sparse) were also widely regarded as being composed of tiny crystals of water ice, rather like cirrus in our atmosphere.
Thus, over millions of years, substantial deposits of water ice might accumulate, presumably mixed in with the uppermost few metres of regolith.
We did not have this kind of impurity peak if we extracted ion beams from the pure anode without water ice inclusion.
The adsorptive bond of water molecules is about twice as strong on mineral surfaces compared with on water ice.
If these regions of high hydrogen concentration represent water ice content, then they would be ideal places to search for organic preservation.
This study focused on a water ice source.
By contrast, the residual northern cap is water ice (plus some dust).
In the lower layers above the microscopic surfaces of sorbent minerals, adsorption water has a much stronger bond to these surfaces than water ice.
