Martian water loss to space enhanced by regional dust storms

Chaffin, M. S.; Kass, D. M.; Aoki, S.; Fedorova, A. A.; Deighan, J.; Connour, K.; Heavens, N. G.; Kleinböhl, A.; Jain, S. K.; Chaufray, J.-Y.; Mayyasi, M.; Clarke, J. T.; Stewart, A. I. F.; Evans, J. S.; Stevens, M. H.; McClintock, W. E.; Crismani, M. M. J.; Holsclaw, G. M.; Lefevre, F.; Lo, D. Y.; Montmessin, F.; Schneider, N. M.; Jakosky, B.; Villanueva, G.; Liuzzi, G.; Daerden, F.; Thomas, I. R.; Lopez-Moreno, J.-J.; Patel, M.R.; Bellucci, G.; Ristic, B.; Erwin, J. T.; Vandaele, A. C.; Trokhimovskiy, A. and Korablev, O. I. (2021). Martian water loss to space enhanced by regional dust storms. Nature Astronomy, 5 pp. 1036–1042.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01425-w

Abstract

Mars has lost most of its initial water to space as atomic hydrogen and oxygen. Spacecraft measurements have determined that present-day hydrogen escape undergoes large variations with season that are inconsistent with long-standing explanations. The cause is incompletely understood, with likely contributions from seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation, dust activity and solar extreme ultraviolet input. Although some modelling and indirect observational evidence suggest that dust activity can explain the seasonal trend, no previous study has been able to unambiguously distinguish seasonal from dust-driven forcing. Here we present synoptic measurements of dust, temperature, ice, water and hydrogen on Mars during a regional dust event, demonstrating that individual dust events can boost planetary H loss by a factor of five to ten. This regional storm occurred in the declining phase of the known seasonal trend, establishing that dust forcing can override this trend to drive enhanced escape. Because similar regional storms occur in most Mars years, these storms may be responsible for a large fraction of Martian water loss and represent an important driver of Mars atmospheric evolution.

Viewing alternatives

Metrics

Item Actions

Export

You can export this page using these formats Digital Object Identifier - DOI

About

• Item ORO ID
• 78587
• Item Type
• Journal Item
• ISSN
• 2397-3366
• Project Funding Details

• Funded Project Name	Project ID	Funding Body
  ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter PLS 2020-2023	ST/V002295/1	UK Space Agency
  Retrievals of martian aerosols and ozone from ExoMars NOMAD data	ST/V005332/1	UK Space Agency
  Surface/atmosphere interactions from above and below.	ST/S00145X/1	UKSA UK Space Agency
  Characterizing the Martian water cycle by assimilating ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter data	ST/R001405/1	UKSA UK Space Agency
  Science operations for UVIS and CaSSIS on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter	ST/R005761/1	UKSA UK Space Agency

• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) > Physical Sciences
  Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
• Research Group
• ?? space ??
• Copyright Holders
• © 2021 M.S. Chaffin et al.
• Depositing User
• Manish Patel