Revealed! Water in the atmosphere of Mars Leaks into Space

–

Planet Mars. [NASA]

–

KlikBabel.com – Recent research has shown that Mars leaks water from its atmosphere into space through changing seasons and storms.

Even though Mars has water, it only exists in the polar ice caps of the planet or as gas in the thin atmosphere.

Water has been missing from Mars for billions of years since the Red Planet lost its magnetic field.

But two recent studies have revealed how water moves through the planet’s atmosphere and leaves it.

The two new studies, led by Anna Fedorova, a researcher at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Jean-Yves Chaufray, a scientist at Laboratoire Atmospheres Observations Spatiales, used data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ExoMars orbiter.

The data suggests that the rate at which Mars releases water is determined by changes in weather and climate as well as the planet’s distance from the Sun.

“The atmosphere is the link between the planet’s surface and outer space. We studied water vapor in the atmosphere from the surface to a height of 100 kilometers, a region that has not been explored, during eight Martian years (eight Mars years are equal to two years on Earth),” said Fedorova.

In this study, the team used data from the SPICAM (Spectroscopy for the Investigation of the Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Mars) instrument on ExoMars which specifically observes the planet’s atmospheres.

The researchers found that when Mars is at its farthest point from the Sun at about 400 million kilometers, water vapor in the planet’s atmosphere is only less than 60 kilometers from the surface of the Red Planet.

However, when Mars is at its closest point to the Sun at a distance of 333 million kilometers, water in its atmosphere can be found 90 kilometers above the surface.

When Mars and the Sun are further away, the cold creates water vapor at a certain height in the atmosphere Mars freezes over.

But as the planets and the Sun get closer and warmer, that water can circulate further. Because water vapor can travel further in the Martian atmosphere during warmer seasons, it can also make the planet lose more water.

“The upper atmosphere becomes humid and saturated with water, explaining why the rate of water leakage increases during this season, where water is carried higher, aiding its escape into space,” explains Fedorova. Space.com, Thursday (25/3/2021).

Not only can the seasons determine how much Martian water leaks into space, but dust storms also play an important role.

Experts found that in years when Mars experiences global dust storms, water moves higher up in the planet’s atmosphere.

At that time, the team found water vapor more than 80 kilometers from the surface of Mars.

However, this research doesn’t fully explain the amount of water that has been lost on Mars over the past 4 billion years.

Because not all of it is lost to space, this study suggests that water has moved underground or that water release rates have been much higher in the past.

loading…

Author: –

Editor: septiani
Source: Suara.com
– .