• Login
     
    View Item 
    •   ORFEO Home
    • Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy
    • BIRA-IASB publications
    • View Item
    •   ORFEO Home
    • Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy
    • BIRA-IASB publications
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Comprehensive investigation of Mars methane and organics with ExoMars/NOMAD

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Knutsen(2021a).pdf (4.370Mb)
    Authors
    Knutsen, E.W.
    Villanueva, G.L.
    Liuzzi, G.
    Crismani, M.M.J.
    Mumma, M.J.
    Smith, M.D.
    Vandaele, A.C.
    Aoki, S.
    Thomas, I.R.
    Daerden, F.
    Viscardy, S.
    Erwin, J.T.
    Trompet, L.
    Neary, L.
    Ristic, B.
    Lopez-Valverde, M.A.
    Lopez-Moreno, J.J.
    Patel, M.R.
    Karatekin, O.
    Bellucci, G.
    Show allShow less
    Discipline
    Physical sciences
    Subject
    Mars
    Atmosphere
    Methane
    Infrared spectroscopy
    Audience
    Scientific
    Date
    2021
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Description
    Methane (CH4) on Mars has attracted a great deal of attention since it was first detected in January 2003. As methane is considered a potential marker for past/present biological or geological activity, any possible detection would require evidence with strong statistical significance. Ethane (C2H6) and ethylene (C2H4) are also relevant chemical species as their shorter lifetimes in the Martian atmosphere make them excellent tracers for recent and ongoing releases. If detected, a CH4/C2Hn ratio could aid in constraining the potential source of organic production. Here we present the results of an extensive search for hydrocarbons in the Martian atmosphere in 240,000 solar occultation measurements performed by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter/NOMAD instrument from April 2018 to April 2019. The observations are global, covering all longitudes and latitudes from 85°N to 85°S, and sampled from 6 to 100 km altitude with a typical vertical resolution of 2 km. There were no statistically significant detections of organics and new stringent upper limits for global ethane and ethylene were set at 0.1 ppbv and 0.7 ppbv, respectively. No global background level of methane was observed, obtaining an upper limit of 0.06 ppbv, in agreement with early results from ExoMars (Korablev et al., 2019). Dedicated searches for localized plumes at more than 2000 locations provided no positive detections, implying that if methane were released in strong and rapid events, the process would have to be sporadic.
    Citation
    Knutsen, E.W.; Villanueva, G.L.; Liuzzi, G.; Crismani, M.M.J.; Mumma, M.J.; Smith, M.D.; Vandaele, A.C.; Aoki, S.; Thomas, I.R.; Daerden, F.; Viscardy, S.; Erwin, J.T.; Trompet, L.; Neary, L.; Ristic, B.; Lopez-Valverde, M.A.; Lopez-Moreno, J.J.; Patel, M.R.; Karatekin, O.; Bellucci, G. (2021). Comprehensive investigation of Mars methane and organics with ExoMars/NOMAD. , Icarus, Vol. 357, A114266, DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114266.
    Identifiers
    uri: https://orfeo.belnet.be/handle/internal/7674
    doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114266
    Type
    Article
    Peer-Review
    Yes
    Language
    eng
    Links
    NewsHelpdeskBELSPO OA Policy

    Browse

    All of ORFEOCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesDisciplinesThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesDisciplines
     

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2016  DuraSpace
    Send Feedback | Cookie Information
    Theme by 
    Atmire NV