Atmospheric transport of subsurface, sporadic, time-varying methane releases on Mars
(2019) Icarus — Vol. 325, n° 1, p. 39-54 (2019)
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Temel_et_al-2019-Icarus_Preprint.pdf
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- Authors
Mischna, Michael A. 
- Abstract
- This study is devoted to the general circulation modeling (GCM) of methane transport in the Martian atmosphere. A localized source originating from a near-subsurface methane reservoir is considered in the GCM simulations, which are performed with a modified version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, MarsWRF. The localized strength of a methane source varies with time, based on a 1-D near-subsurface diffusive transport. Time-varying surface release scenarios are also compared with an instantaneous release scenario. After release from the surface, the methane transport is investigated in the GCM as a passive scalar over time scales varying between 15 and 60 days, much shorter than the photochemical lifetime. Different emission scenarios of various duration and source intensity, as well as multiple locations with different elevation and terrain complexity are considered, to reproduce the substantial concentrations of methane (up to 50 ppb) observed in the northern hemisphere of Mars in 2003 (Mumma et al., 2009). Among the scenarios considered, the observations are reproduced best for an emission scenario of 45 sols duration, during which a total amount of about 90,000 metric tons of methane is released. The results reveal that observed Mars methane plumes in the northern hemisphere of Mars by Mumma et al. (2009) can be reproduced using a localized, time-varying methane source, consistent with a near surface methane reservoir.
- Affiliations
Royal Observatory of Belgium Reference Systems and Planetology Jet Propulsion Laboratory Planetary and Exoplanetary Atmospheres Group von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics Environmental and Applied Fluid Dynamics Department
Citations
Temel, O., Karatekin, Ö., Gloesener, E., Mischna, M. A., & van Beeck, J. (2019). Atmospheric transport of subsurface, sporadic, time-varying methane releases on Mars. Icarus, 325(1), 39-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2019.02.014 (Original work published 2019)