Independent confirmation of a methane spike on Mars and a source region east of Gale Crater

Reports of methane detection in the Martian atmosphere have been intensely debated. The presence of methane could enhance habitability and may even be a signature of life. However, no detection has been confirmed with independent measurements. Here, we report a firm detection of 15.5 ± 2.5 ppb by volume of methane in the Martian atmosphere above Gale Crater on 16 June 2013, by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer onboard Mars Express, one day after the in situ observation of a methane spike by the Curiosity rover. Methane was not detected in other orbital passages. The detection uses improved observational geometry, as well as more sophisticated data treatment and analysis, and constitutes a contemporaneous, independent detection of methane. We perform ensemble simulations of the Martian atmosphere, using stochastic gas release scenarios to identify a potential source region east of Gale Crater. Our independent geological analysis also points to a source in this region, where faults of Aeolis Mensae may extend into proposed shallow ice of the Medusae Fossae Formation and episodically release gas trapped below or within the ice. Our identification of a probable release location will provide focus for future investigations into the origin of methane on Mars

ExoMars TGO/NOMAD‐UVIS vertical profiles of ozone: Part 2: The high‐altitude layers of atmospheric ozone

Solar occultations performed by the Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery (NOMAD) ultraviolet and visible spectrometer (UVIS) onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) have provided a comprehensive mapping of atmospheric ozone density. The observations here extend over a full Mars year (MY) between April 21, 2018 at the beginning of the TGO science operations during late northern summer on Mars (MY 34, Ls = 163°) and March 9, 2020 (MY 35). UVIS provided transmittance spectra of the Martian atmosphere allowing measurements of the vertical distribution of ozone density using its Hartley absorption band (200 – 300 nm). The overall comparison to water vapor is found in the companion paper to this work (Patel et al., 2021). Our findings indicate the presence of (1) a high-altitude peak of ozone between 40 and 60 km in altitude over the north polar latitudes for at least 45% of the Martian year during mid-northern spring, late northern summer-early southern spring, and late southern summer, and (2) a second, but more prominent, high-altitude ozone peak in the south polar latitudes, lasting for at least 60% of the year including the southern autumn and winter seasons. When present, both high-altitude peaks are observed in the sunrise and sunset occultations, suggesting that the layers could persist during the day. Results from the Mars general circulation models predict the general behavior of these peaks of ozone and are used in an attempt to further our understanding of the chemical processes controlling high-altitude ozone on Mars

Variations in Vertical CO/CO₂ Profiles in the Martian Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere Measured by the ExoMars TGO/NOMAD: Implications of Variations in Eddy Diffusion Coefficient

Using the Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery instrument aboard Trace Gas Orbiter, we derived the CO/CO2 profiles between 75 and 105 km altitude with the equivalent width technique. The derived CO/CO2 profiles showed significant seasonal variations in the southern hemisphere with decreases near perihelion and increases near aphelion. The estimation of the CO/CO2 profiles with a one‐dimensional photochemical model shows that an altitude‐dependent eddy diffusion coefficient better reproduces the observed profiles than a vertically uniform one. Our estimation suggests that the eddy diffusion coefficient in Ls = 240–270 is uniformly larger by a factor of ∼2 than that in Ls = 90–120 in the southern hemisphere, while they are comparable in the northern hemisphere. This fact demonstrates that the eddy diffusion coefficient is variable with season and latitude

Variations in Vertical CO/CO2 Profiles in the Martian Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere Measured by the ExoMars TGO/NOMAD: Implications of Variations in Eddy Diffusion Coefficient

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Using the Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery instrument aboard Trace Gas Orbiter, we derived the CO/CO2 profiles between 75 and 105 km altitude with the equivalent width technique. The derived CO/CO2 profiles showed significant seasonal variations in the southern hemisphere with decreases near perihelion and increases near aphelion. The estimation of the CO/CO2 profiles with a one-dimensional photochemical model shows that an altitude-dependent eddy diffusion coefficient better reproduces the observed profiles than a vertically uniform one. Our estimation suggests that the eddy diffusion coefficient in Ls = 240–270 is uniformly larger by a factor of ∼2 than that in Ls = 90–120 in the southern hemisphere, while they are comparable in the northern hemisphere. This fact demonstrates that the eddy diffusion coefficient is variable with season and latitude. © 2022. The Authors.The NOMAD experiment is led by the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (IASB-BIRA), assisted by Co-PI teams from Spain (IAA-CSIC), Italy (INAF-IAPS), and the United Kingdom (Open University). This project acknowledges funding by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO), with the financial and contractual coordination by the ESA Prodex Office (PEA 4000103401, 4000121493), by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIU) and by European funds under Grants PGC2018-101836-B-I00 and ESP2017-87143-R (MINECO/FEDER), as well as by UK Space Agency through Grants ST/V002295/1, ST/V005332/1, and ST/S00145x/1 and Italian Space Agency through Grant 2018-2-HH.0. This work was supported by the Belgian Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique–FNRS under Grant No. 30442502 (ET_HOME). The IAA/CSIC team acknowledges financial support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the “Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa” award for the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709). US investigators were supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Canadian investigators were supported by the Canadian Space Agency. Y. N. is supported by The international Joint Graduate Program in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Tohoku University (GP-EES), and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JP21J13710). This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Nos. 20H04605 and 19K03943.Peer reviewe

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

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

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