Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 323, Issue 5917, Pages 1041-1045Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1165243
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Funding
- NASA the Planetary Astronomy Program [RTOP 344-32-07]
- Astrobiology Institute [RTOP 344-53-51]
- NSF Research at Undergraduate Institutions Program [AST-0505765]
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences [0805540] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Living systems produce more than 90% of Earth's atmospheric methane; the balance is of geochemical origin. On Mars, methane could be a signature of either origin. Using high- dispersion infrared spectrometers at three ground- based telescopes, we measured methane and water vapor simultaneously on Mars over several longitude intervals in northern early and late summer in 2003 and near the vernal equinox in 2006. When present, methane occurred in extended plumes, and the maxima of latitudinal profiles imply that the methane was released from discrete regions. In northern midsummer, the principal plume contained similar to 19,000 metric tons of methane, and the estimated source strength (>= 0.6 kilogram per second) was comparable to that of the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Oil Point in Santa Barbara, California.
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