Cometary Gas and Dust Delivered to Mars

This thesis investigates the interaction of cometary atmospheres (coma) and debris streams (meteor showers) on Mars' atmosphere. In this work, we use the close encounter of Comet Siding Spring (C/2013 A1) with Mars to investigate delivered cometary gas and dust. This serendipitous encounter occurred at a distance of 141,000 km, three times closer than distance between Earth and the Moon and was observed by the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) Mission. The gaseous coma enveloped the planet and Mars passed through the comet&rsquo;s fresh debris stream, bombarding the upper atmosphere with cometary dust particles. Dust particles are liberated from comets as gas sublimates from their surfaces, and these particles evolve according to their size to form the interplanetary dust environment. As these interplanetary dust particles sporadically enter the Martian atmosphere, they ablate and form a layer of meteoric ions, and we detail this discovery and its implications.</p

Strong variability of Martian water ice clouds during dust storms revealed from ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter/NOMAD

Observations of water ice clouds and aerosols on Mars can provide important insights into the complexity of the water cycle. Recent observations have indicated an important link between dust activity and the water cycle, as intense dust activity can significantly raise the hygropause, and subsequently increase the escape of water after dissociation in the upper atmosphere. Here present observations from NOMAD/TGO that investigate the variation of water ice clouds in the perihelion season of Mars Year 34 (April 2018‐19), their diurnal and seasonal behavior, and the vertical structure and microphysical properties of water ice and dust. These observations reveal the recurrent presence of a layer of mesospheric water ice clouds subsequent to the 2018 Global Dust Storm. We show that this layer rose from 45 to 80 km in altitude on a timescale of days from heating in the lower atmosphere due to the storm. In addition, we demonstrate that there is a strong dawn dusk asymmetry in water ice abundance, related to nighttime nucleation and subsequent daytime sublimation. Water ice particle sizes are retrieved consistently and exhibit sharp vertical gradients (from 0.1 to 4.0 μm), as well as mesospheric differences between the Global Dust Storm (<0.5 μm) and the 2019 regional dust storm (1.0 μm), which suggests differing water ice nucleation efficiencies. These results form the basis to advance our understanding of mesospheric water ice clouds on Mars, and further constrain the interactions between water ice and dust in the middle atmosphere

Martian Atmospheric Hydrogen and Deuterium: Seasonal Changes and Paradigm for Escape to Space

Mars\u27 water history is fundamental to understanding Earth-like planet evolution. Water escapes to space as atoms, and hydrogen atoms escape faster than deuterium giving an increase in the residual D/H ratio. The present ratio reflects the total water Mars has lost. Observations with the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spacecraft provide atomic densities and escape rates for H and D. Large increases near perihelion observed each martian year are consistent with a strong upwelling of water vapor. Short-term changes require processes in addition to thermal escape, likely from atmospheric dynamics and superthermal atoms. Including escape from hot atoms, both H and D escape rapidly, and the escape fluxes are limited by resupply from the lower atmosphere. In this paradigm for the escape of water, the D/H ratio of the escaping atoms and the enhancement in water are determined by upwelling water vapor and atmospheric dynamics rather than by the specific details of atomic escape

First Detection and Thermal Characterization of Terminator CO₂ Ice Clouds With ExoMars/NOMAD

We present observations of terminator CO2 ice clouds events in three groups: Equatorial dawn, Equatorial dusk (both between 20°S and 20°N) and Southern midlatitudes at dawn (45°S and 55°S east of Hellas Basin) with ESA ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter's Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery instrument. CO2 ice abundance is retrieved simultaneously with water ice, dust, and particle sizes, and rotational temperature and CO2 column profiles in 16 of 26 cases. Small particles (2 ice is sometimes detected in unsaturated air together with dust nuclei at dawn, suggesting ongoing sublimation. Depending on latitude and local time, the interplay between particle precipitation and the lifetime of temperature minima (i.e., cold pockets) determines CO2 ice properties

Water heavily fractionated as it ascends on Mars as revealed by ExoMars/NOMAD

sotopic ratios and, in particular, the water D/H ratio are powerful tracers of the evolution and transport of water on Mars. From measurements performed with ExoMars/NOMAD, we observe marked and rapid variability of the D/H along altitude on Mars and across the whole planet. The observations (from April 2018 to April 2019) sample a broad range of events on Mars, including a global dust storm, the evolution of water released from the southern polar cap during southern summer, the equinox phases, and a short but intense regional dust storm. In three instances, we observe water at very high altitudes (>80 km), the prime region where water is photodissociated and starts its escape to space. Rayleigh distillation appears the be the driving force affecting the D/H in many cases, yet in some instances, the exchange of water reservoirs with distinctive D/H could be responsible

Martian dust storm impact on atmospheric H₂O and D/H observed by ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

Global dust storms on Mars are rare but can affect the Martian atmosphere for several months. They can cause changes in atmospheric dynamics and inflation of the atmosphere, primarily owing to solar heating of the dust. In turn, changes in atmospheric dynamics can affect the distribution of atmospheric water vapour, with potential implications for the atmospheric photochemistry and climate on Mars. Recent observations of the water vapour abundance in the Martian atmosphere during dust storm conditions revealed a high-altitude increase in atmospheric water vapour that was more pronounced at high northern latitudes, as well as a decrease in the water column at low latitudes. Here we present concurrent, high-resolution measurements of dust, water and semiheavy water (HDO) at the onset of a global dust storm, obtained by the NOMAD and ACS instruments onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. We report the vertical distribution of the HDO/H O ratio (D/H) from the planetary boundary layer up to an altitude of 80 kilometres. Our findings suggest that before the onset of the dust storm, HDO abundances were reduced to levels below detectability at altitudes above 40 kilometres. This decrease in HDO coincided with the presence of water-ice clouds. During the storm, an increase in the abundance of H2O and HDO was observed at altitudes between 40 and 80 kilometres. We propose that these increased abundances may be the result of warmer temperatures during the dust storm causing stronger atmospheric circulation and preventing ice cloud formation, which may confine water vapour to lower altitudes through gravitational fall and subsequent sublimation of ice crystals. The observed changes in H2O and HDO abundance occurred within a few days during the development of the dust storm, suggesting a fast impact of dust storms on the Martian atmosphere

No detection of methane on Mars from early ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter observations

The detection of methane on Mars has been interpreted as indicating that geochemical or biotic activities could persist on Mars today. A number of different measurements of methane show evidence of transient, locally elevated methane concentrations and seasonal variations in background methane concentrations. These measurements, however, are difficult to reconcile with our current understanding of the chemistry and physics of the Martian atmosphere, which-given methane's lifetime of several centuries-predicts an even, well mixed distribution of methane. Here we report highly sensitive measurements of the atmosphere of Mars in an attempt to detect methane, using the ACS and NOMAD instruments onboard the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter from April to August 2018. We did not detect any methane over a range of latitudes in both hemispheres, obtaining an upper limit for methane of about 0.05 parts per billion by volume, which is 10 to 100 times lower than previously reported positive detections. We suggest that reconciliation between the present findings and the background methane concentrations found in the Gale crater would require an unknown process that can rapidly remove or sequester methane from the lower atmosphere before it spreads globally

Ly α Observations of Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) Using MAVEN IUVS Echelle

International audienceThe close approach of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) to Mars in 2014 October provided a unique opportunity to observe a dynamically new Oort cloud comet with potential for interaction with a planet's atmosphere. The water-originating hydrogen coma of the comet extended to over 20 million km from the nucleus. Determining the properties of this coma contributes to characterizing the comet's water content and production rate. The present study analyzes a unique data set of high spectral resolution UV observations of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring measured by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft. The Siding Spring observations capture Lyα emissions from the Martian corona, the interplanetary medium, as well as the cometary H and D reservoirs. The isolated cometary spectra are analyzed to reveal a velocity distribution of H atoms that are consistent with model estimates of H2O photodissociated H emissions and of OH photodissociated H emissions, Doppler shifted from the main comet H emission line center by 18 km s−1 and 8 km s−1, respectively. The variations in comet H brightness with distance from the nucleus are used to constrain cometary water production to a rate of 0.5 × 1028 molecules s−1 at a time when Siding Spring was at 1.5 au, pre-perihelion

Martian Meteoric Mg+: an intercomparison of MAVEN/IUVS observations with simulations using the LMD Mars GCM

International audienc