A sink for methane on Mars? The answer is blowing in the wind

Jensen, Svend Knak; Skibsted, Jørgen; Jakobsen, Hans J.; Kate, I. L. ten; Gunnlaugsson, H. P.; Merrison, J.P.; Finster, Kai; Bak, Ebbe Norskov; Iversen, J.; Kondrup, Jens Christian; Nørnberg, P.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.03.036

Cited by 73 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Indeed, as Etiope and Oehler () have recently argued, a fast destruction or sequestration mechanism is necessary for any of these mechanisms to avoid the problem of excess methane building up in the Martian atmosphere, above the levels observed by TGO. By effectively decreasing the lifetime of methane in the Martian atmosphere, a fast destruction (e.g., Atreya et al, ; ; Delory et al, ) or sequestration process (e.g., Jensen et al, ) would allow a substantially larger area to be emitting methane than what we have calculated here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

The Methane Diurnal Variation and Microseepage Flux at Gale Crater, Mars as Constrained by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Curiosity Observations

Moores

King

Smith

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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The upper bound of 50 parts per trillion by volume for Mars methane above 5 km established by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, substantially lower than the 410 parts per trillion by volume average measured overnight by the Curiosity Rover, places a strong constraint on the daytime methane flux at the Gale crater. We propose that these measurements may be largely reconciled by the inhibition of mixing near the surface overnight, whereby methane emitted from the subsurface accumulates within meters of the surface before being mixed below detection limits at dawn. A model of this scenario allows the first precise calculation of microseepage fluxes at Gale to be derived, consistent with a constant 1.5 × 10−10 kg·m−2·sol−1 (5.4 × 10−5 tonnes·km−2·year−1) source at depth. Under this scenario, only 2.7 × 104 km2 of Mars's surface may be emitting methane, unless a fast destruction mechanism exists.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

The Methane Diurnal Variation and Microseepage Flux at Gale Crater, Mars as Constrained by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Curiosity Observations

Moores

King

Smith

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…In addition, the conjectured strong sink of CH 4 (Mumma et al 2009) has opened a wide area of research in the past decade in search for such a sink process (Holmes et al 2015;Knak-Jensen et al 2014). NOMAD will measure the CH 4 vertical profiles simultaneously with other trace gases, and dust and ice clouds, and can contribute to further understand this open problem.…”

Section: Organicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

NOMAD, an Integrated Suite of Three Spectrometers for the ExoMars Trace Gas Mission: Technical Description, Science Objectives and Expected Performance

Vandaele¹,

Moreno²,

Patel³

et al. 2018

Space Sci Rev

109

117

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The NOMAD ("Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery") spectrometer suite on board the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has been designed to investigate the comThis paper is dedicated to the memory of M. Allen, V. Formisano, and J. McConnell. position of Mars' atmosphere, with a particular focus on trace gases, clouds and dust. The detection sensitivity for trace gases is considerably improved compared to previous Mars missions, compliant with the science objectives of the TGO mission. This will allow for a major leap in our knowledge and understanding of the Martian atmospheric composition and the related physical and chemical processes. The instrument is a combination of three spectrometers, covering a spectral range from the UV to the mid-IR, and can perform solar occultation, nadir and limb observations. In this paper, we present the science objectives of the instrument and explain the technical principles of the three spectrometers. We also discuss the expected performance of the instrument in terms of spatial and temporal coverage and detection sensitivity.

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“…This was confirmed by numerical simulations with a general circulation model (GCM) for Mars [ Lefèvre and Forget , ]. Since then a range of strong destruction mechanisms for methane has been proposed [e.g., Knak Jensen et al ., ; Holmes et al ., ], but the issue is not solved today, also due to lack of new observations during a long time period. Villanueva et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation of layers of methane in the atmosphere of Mars after surface release

Viscardy

Daerden

Neary

2016

Geophysical Research Letters

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Simulations with a general circulation model for the atmosphere of Mars show that surface emissions of methane can result in a highly nonuniform vertical distribution throughout the atmosphere, including the formation of layers, during the first weeks after the release. The fate of the released methane is determined by the global circulation pattern at the time of the release, and the methane can be transported to locations over the planet that are remote from the emission site. It typically takes several weeks for the methane to become more uniformly mixed, implying that the detection of vertical layers of methane can be indicative of recent surface emission. This puts the existing observations in a new perspective and will allow instruments on the upcoming ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission to detect signatures of surface emission activity as they are designed to measure the first vertical profiles of methane on Mars.

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A sink for methane on Mars? The answer is blowing in the wind

Cited by 73 publications

References 24 publications

The Methane Diurnal Variation and Microseepage Flux at Gale Crater, Mars as Constrained by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Curiosity Observations

The Methane Diurnal Variation and Microseepage Flux at Gale Crater, Mars as Constrained by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Curiosity Observations

NOMAD, an Integrated Suite of Three Spectrometers for the ExoMars Trace Gas Mission: Technical Description, Science Objectives and Expected Performance

Formation of layers of methane in the atmosphere of Mars after surface release

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