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Water on Mars is not confined to its internal atmosphere, but is carried into the upper atmosphere and there it becomes atomic hydrogen which escapes into space, according to evidence published this Thursday in a study in the journal Science.
In the past the water flowed on the Martian surface, where it left traces in the form of river beds and shores, however today there are far fewer and most are considered enclosed in the polar caps, with only a few traces of water vapor in the atmosphere. .
A team led by Shane Stone of the University of Arizona used data taken by the US space probe MAVEM in the upper Martian atmosphere, where they found traces of water at higher altitudes than expected.
The arrival of water in the upper atmosphere, through dust and seasonal storms, “It could have played a substantial role in the evolution of the Martian climate from its hot, humid state billions of years ago to the cold, dry planet we observe today,” according to Stone.
This same process dominates the current loss of water from the red planet, the research authors indicate.
Most of the water on Mars was slowly converted to hydrogen in the atmosphere, which is lost in space, gradually wiping it out over several billion years, in a process that continues today.
The study indicates that water is transported directly to the upper atmosphere and converted into atomic hydrogen there through reactions with atmospheric ions.
The abundance of water in Mars’ upper atmosphere varies with the seasons. It peaks in the austral summer, increasing during regional and global dust storms.
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