Local production rates of 67P/CG from MIRO

During the perihelion approach, the water production rates increased by an order of magnitude, and from the observations, the derived maximum for a single observation on August 29, 2015 is (1.42+/-0.51)x10^28^. Modelling the data indicates that there is an offset in the peak outgassing, occurring 34+/-10 days after perihelion. During the pre-perihelion phase, the production rate changes with heliocentric distance as r_h_^-3.8+/-0.2^; during post- perihelion, the dependence is r_h_^-4.3+/-0.2^.

The comet is calculated to have lost 0.12+/-0.06% of its mass during the perihelion passage, considering only water ice sublimation. Additionally, this method provides well- sampled data to determine the spatial distribution of outgassing versus heliocentric distance. The time evolution is definitely not uniform across the surface.

Pre- and post-perihelion, the surface temperature on the southern hemisphere changes rapidly, as does the sublimation rate with an exponent of ~-6. There is a strong latitudinal dependence on the r_h_ exponent with significant variation between northern and southern hemispheres, and so the average over the comet surface may only be of limited importance. We present more detailed regional variation in the outgassing, thereby demonstrating that the highest derived production rates originate from the Wosret, Neith, and Bes regions during perihelion.