North to south asymmetries in the water-equivalent hydrogen distribution at high latitudes on Mars

[1] Water content and burial depths derived from thermal and epithermal neutron currents measured by the Mars Odyssey Neutron Spectrometer are used to determine north to south asymmetries and intercorrelations at high latitudes on Mars. Our goal is to contrast observed asymmetries with predictions based on current climate conditions and potential regolith thermophysical and chemophysical properties. The average mass fraction of water-equivalent hydrogen within the buried layer is higher on average in the south between 60 and 75 latitude and is strongly anticorrelated with burial depth in both hemispheres. These results argue that the observed water content at high latitudes may require differing north to south thermophysical and/or chemophysical properties of the regolith.