The vertical transport of methane from different potential emission types on Mars

Holmes, J. A.; Patel, M. R. and Lewis, S. R. (2017). The vertical transport of methane from different potential emission types on Mars. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(16) pp. 8611–8620.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074613

Abstract

The contrasting evolutionary behavior of the vertical profile of methane from three potential release scenarios is analysed using a global circulation model with assimilated temperature profiles. Understanding the evolving methane distribution is essential for interpretation of future retrievals of the methane vertical profile taken by instruments on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft. We show that at methane release rates constrained by previous observations and modelling studies, discriminating whether the methane source is a sustained or instantaneous surface emission requires at least ten sols of tracking the emission. A methane source must also be observed within five to ten sols of the initial emission to distinguish whether the emission occurs directly at the surface or within the atmosphere via destabilization of metastable clathrates. Assimilation of thermal data is shown to be critical for the most accurate back-tracking of an observed methane plume to its origin.

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