Strong Localized Pumping of Water Vapor to High Altitudes on Mars During the Perihelion Season

Brines, A.; López‐Valverde, M. A.; Funke, B.; González‐Galindo, F.; Aoki, S.; Villanueva, G. L.; Holmes, J. A.; Belyaev, D. A.; Liuzzi, G.; Thomas, I. R.; Erwin, J. T.; Grabowski, U.; Forget, F.; Lopez‐Moreno, J. J.; Rodriguez‐Gomez, J.; Daerden, F.; Trompet, L.; Ristic, B.; Patel, M. R.; Bellucci, G. and Vandaele, A. C. (2024). Strong Localized Pumping of Water Vapor to High Altitudes on Mars During the Perihelion Season. Geophysical Research Letters, 51(14), article no. e2023GL107224.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2023gl107224

Abstract

Here we present water vapor vertical profiles observed with the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter/Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery instrument during the perihelion and Southern summer solstice season (L_S = 240°–300°) in three consecutive Martian Years 34, 35, and 36. We show the detailed latitudinal distribution of H₂O at tangent altitudes from 10 to 120 km, revealing a vertical plume at 60°S–50°S injecting H₂O upward, reaching abundance of about 50 ppmv at 100 km. We have observed this event repeatedly in the three Martian years analyzed, appearing at L_S = 260°–280° and showing inter‐annual variations in the magnitude and timing due to long term effects of the Martian Year 34 Global Dust Storm. We provide a rough estimate of projected hydrogen escape of 3.2 × 10⁹ cm⁻² s⁻¹ associated to these plumes, adding further evidence of the key role played by the perihelion season in the long term evolution of the planet's climate.

Plain Language Summary

Studying the vertical distribution of the Martian atmosphere is crucial to understand what happened to the water presumably present in larger abundance on ancient Mars. We have analyzed the vertical profiles of three Martian Years during the Southern summer, revealing a strong vertical transport of water vapor to the upper atmosphere. This seasonal phenomenon seems to be repeated annually, although with variations in the location and time of the year. Our estimation of the associated upward hydrogen flux represents an important loss which could have contributed to the escape of water to space for at least the period in which Mars had its present orbital inclination.

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