Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Mumma, Michael J
• Villanueva, Geronimo L
• Novak, Robert E
• Hewagama, Tilak
• Bonev, Boncho P
• DiSanti, Michael A
• Mandell, Avi M
• Smith, Michael D

Titel

Strong Release of Methane on Mars in Northern Summer 2003

Ist Teil von

• Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 2009-02, Vol.323 (5917), p.1041-1045

Ort / Verlag

Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2009

Quelle

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Living systems produce more than 90% of Earth's atmospheric methane; the balance is of geochemical origin. On Mars, methane could be a signature of either origin. Using high-dispersion infrared spectrometers at three ground-based telescopes, we measured methane and water vapor simultaneously on Mars over several longitude intervals in northern early and late summer in 2003 and near the vernal equinox in 2006. When present, methane occurred in extended plumes, and the maxima of latitudinal profiles imply that the methane was released from discrete regions. In northern midsummer, the principal plume contained ~19,000 metric tons of methane, and the estimated source strength (greater-than-or-equal0.6 kilogram per second) was comparable to that of the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Oil Point in Santa Barbara, California.