Did dust storms on Mars remove water, wipe out the oceans?

Dust storms on Mars can carry water to higher altitudes in the atmosphere than scientists thought, and this rapid process has helped strip the Red Planet of its limited water supply – draining its precious oceans – for billions. of years, according to a recent study published in the journal Science.

RELATED: BUILDING A GARDEN ON THE RED PLANET: HOW COULD WE COLONIZE / TERRAFORM MARS?

Mars dust storms may have helped wrench the oceans of water away

The new research shows how summer dust storms can lift water to the top of Mars’ atmosphere, where the molecular structure of water is broken down, allowing hydrogen to escape into space, phys.org reports.

Scientists think Mars had one or two oceans in its ancient life. But unfortunately the once abundant water on the Red Planet’s surface and possibly supporting a habitable atmosphere has been lost over billions of years – a mysterious disappearance that scientists want to piece together.

Using NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, scientists have discovered how powerful summer dust storms can lift water above the Red Planet’s hygro-pause, a cold layer in the Martian atmosphere that serves as a boundary. at lower altitudes.

Dust storms produce hydrogen atoms at a typical “10 times” rate

“The dust storms inject a sudden splash of water into the upper atmosphere,” study lead author and University of Arizona graduate student Shane Stone told Space.com via email.

Stone and his colleagues relied on data collected by MAVEN during its deep dives in the atmosphere, which lasted tons for more than two Martian years (slightly shorter than ours). They found how the abundance of water peaked during the summer in the southern hemisphere, when the red planet is closest to the sun, and dust storms around the world occur more frequently.

“During a global sandstorm, the new process we describe produces [hydrogen] atoms at a speed that is 10 times that of the classical process, “Stone told Space.com.

The new process is like a “sudden splash” of water into the upper atmosphere

Here on Earth, hygro-pause helps to hold water in the lower atmosphere, and when water rises high enough to reach cold areas, it condenses from a gas to a cloud that forms a liquid. After it is condensed, it does not go higher.

Previous studies have shown how water could be transported above the Red Planet’s hygro pause, but the new research outlines a seasonal trend with a curious link to dust storms and the amount of water present in Mars’ upper atmosphere.

Previous modeling of this process assumed that the planet’s water was lost through “slow bleeding” from the central atmosphere into the hygro pause, and then into the cold expanses of space.

“The classical process is like a slow, steady flow of hydrogen in the upper atmosphere that varies from Martian year to Martian year, while the process we describe is like a sudden splash of water into the upper atmosphere,” said Stone, a Space. com.

The water in the upper atmosphere of Mars lasts about four hours

Dust storms generally block heat and light, preventing them from pushing towards the surface of the planet, then warming the hygrouse instead. This weakens it and pushes more water out of the atmosphere. Additionally, the southern summer temperatures of Mars are warmer, which adds to the atmospheric heat, which further reduces the water-holding ability of the hygropausa.

Once the water molecules enter the upper atmosphere, they react with charged particles (ions) and divide to form hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Hydrogen is the lightest atom, which means that some of them accelerate to escape speed and zoom into space.

“Once the water reaches the upper atmosphere, it lasts about four hours,” Stone told Space.com.

Possible terraforming puzzle, colonization of Mars

Earlier today, Elon Musk tweeted about how humans will live on Mars, or rather – what, given the uninhabitable atmosphere. “Life in the beginning in glass domes. In the end, terraformed to support life, like the Earth”, we read his tweet.

However, the terraforming process of Mars will have to take into account the effect that major dust storms have on water, lest a human population create glass domes and fill water tanks outside only to see it being carried away. in the upper atmosphere of the Red Planet. – where precious molecules could be mercilessly torn apart and thrown into space.