  Large and deep depressions, also known as pits, are observed at the surface
of all Jupiter Family Comets (JFCs) imaged by spacecraft missions. They offer
the opportunity to glimpse into sub-surface characteristics of comet nuclei,
and study the complex interplay between surface structures and cometary
activity. This work investigates the evolution of pits at the surface of
81P/Wild 2, 9P/Tempel 1 and 103P/Hartley 2, in continuation of the work by
Benseguane et al. (2022), on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Pits are selected
across the surface of each nucleus, and high-resolution shape models are used
to compute the energy they receive. A thermal evolution model is applied to
constrain how cometary activity sustained under current illumination conditions
could modify them. Similarly to what was found for 67P, we show erosion
resulting from water-driven activity is primarily controlled by seasonal
patterns, unique to each comet as a consequence of their shape and rotational
properties. However, progressive erosion sustained after multiple perihelion
passages is not able to carve any of the observed pits. Instead, cometary
activity tends to erase sharp morphological features: they become wider and
shallower over time. Our results reinforce the evolutionary sequence evidenced
from independent measurables to transform "young" cometary surfaces, with sharp
surface topography prone to outbursts, into "old" cometary surfaces. Finally,
we suggest that the mechanism at the origin of pits on JFCs should be able to
carve these structures in a region of the solar system where water ice does not
sublimate: the Centaur phase thus appears critical to understand JFCs surface
properties.

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics