.BOULDER, Colorado – Evidence for intense local enhancements in methane on Mars has been bolstered by ground-based observations. The methane, as well as water on Mars, was detected using state-of-the-art infrared spectrometers stationed atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii and in Cerro Pachón, Chile.
Scientific teams around the globe are on the trail of methane seeping out of Mars. And for good reason: The methane could be the result of biological processes. It could also be an "abiotic" geochemical process, however, or the result of volcanic or hydrothermal activity on the red planet.
Many types of microbes here on Earth produce a signature of methane. Indeed, the tiny fraction of atmospheric carbon found as methane on our planet is churned out almost entirely biologically with only a very small contribution from abiotic processes, scientists say
Spotlighted at this week’s meeting in terms of strong methane detection was an area on Mars east of Hellas Basin to west of Hellas Basin – and the eastern most edge of the large region where NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter found subsurface hydrogen in high abundance. That hydrogen is thought to be the signature of water ice, scientists said.
Moreover, for the first time, and using the Gemini South telescope, two lines of methane have been simultaneously seen on Mars. And when each is studied independently, they show a consistent abundance of methane on the planet -- within the narrow stripes across Mars scanned by the Earth-based gear.
Furthermore, the ground-based "footprint" of data extracted was contrasted with data taken in a similar time period by the Mars Global Surveyor’s (MGS) Thermal Emission Spectrometer. That Mars-orbiting MGS sensor yields information on the red planet’s surface pressure and temperature, as well as water vapor within the column of martian atmosphere the sensor is inspecting
Culling out from the data the release locales of methane on Mars is critical to the selection of future landing sites, "to search for organics that are either biological or abiotic," Mumma said. Finding out whether methane releases are seasonally dependent is also of keen interest, he said.
There is no doubt in Mumma’s mind that something is going on at Mars. "Mars was wet…was it also alive…or is it now alive?"
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