Do Seasonal Changes in Mars's Atmosphere Have a Biological Cause?

Methane disappears and regenerates every year, according to new study

By Rebecca Boyle Posted 09.27.2010 at 5:30 pm 7 Comments

Martian Methane Map NASA

Methane concentrations on Mars change with the seasons as well as location, and the gas disappears within a Martian year, according to a new study by Italian scientists. The finding, developed over five Earth years using NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, adds to the ongoing debate about the nature of CH4 on Mars.

Methane peaks during the fall in three regions: Tharsis, Elysium and Arabia Terrae. The biggest volcanoes on Mars are in Tharsis and Elysium, and vast amounts of water ice are buried beneath the sands of Arabia Terrae. Methane concentrations drop during winter, and grow so strong in summer that the gas spreads throughout Mars’ thin atmosphere, according to Discovery News.

Scientists led by Sergio Fonti of Italy's Universita del Salento studied about 3 million observations from the Mars Global Surveyor between July 1999 and October 2004, which is about three Mars years. They found that once emitted, methane only lasts about a year. Then something replenishes it and the cycle starts again.

Scientists have known for about seven years that Mars harbors methane, and that its presence changes over time and place. But the new research shows Mars’ methane cycle is much quicker than scientists thought.

Scientists and the public get excited about extraterrestrial methane because it’s usually produced one or two ways — through volcanic eruptions and biological processes. It is prevalent in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus, and more recently, scientists figured out it also exists (with some interesting variation) on Saturn’s moon Titan.

Chemical processes could also produce methane, such as carbon dioxide combining with melted water beneath the surface.

Though detection of methane is not a smoking gun for life, changes in the presence of methane are intriguing. Methane breaks down in ultraviolet radiation from the sun, which means something on Mars is replenishing it. The methane’s seasonality and variable location rules out cosmic ray or meteorite bombardment, as Fonti told Discovery News.

What’s more, in the Titan study and this study, solar radiation is not enough to account for all the missing methane. As Fonti says, biological processes could be one of a few possible explanations.

Mars’ methane concentrations are still paltry — at peak times, it’s still only 4 percent of the average methane concentration on Earth, Space.com points out.

Fonti and the other researchers presented their findings last week at the European Planetary Science Congress in Rome.

[Discovery News]

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7 Comments

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Siromar

09/27/10 at 6:23 pm

So what happened to Titan? They dropped that bomb on us 3 months ago then... nothing! Did they find out more about the missing hydrogen and the other hydrocarbons? Did they find anything about the nature of the organic goo? Do we have any updates? As far as I remember, Cassini was supposed to make a very close flyby in late June. And that was supposed to provide more data on the situation.

I'm desperately waiting for more information.

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gizmowiz

09/27/10 at 6:52 pm

It's probably little green Martians farts ha.

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TheFourth

09/28/10 at 12:20 am

It's either because of Mars being geologically active or some sort of possible life form.

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inaka_rob

09/28/10 at 1:58 am

@Siromar yeah I am with you on that. sometimes science moves very slowly. it could be years if not longer until they unlock the secret. Do you ever wonder that they found out exactly what it was and it is so boring or they made a mistake that they just decided not to tell anyone about it.

@gizmowiz "It's probably little green Martians farts ha." REALLY? that is what I expect from my Jr. High students. It is AMAZING how many dumb and immature statements are found on popsci. Dont get me wrong I am all for lude and crude humor, probably far more than is appropriate for a teacher, but there is a time and a place. I really enjoy when these articles spar good intelligent comments and arguments. unfortunately you can really see the large group of users on the site. Very educated adults to brain dead worms who love to troll. remember the big gash in mars a few weeks back. It was filled with giant dick comments. REALLY? a giant dick fell on mars. about 1 in 10 actually had something intelligent to add to the article. whatever. freedom of speech is freedom of speech. its just that when I want to read stupid crude funny comments I go to my other favorite webstie like people of wallmart or fmylife

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kryo

09/28/10 at 3:30 am

christ, inaka_rob; if small comments like that can make you that annoyed, you'll love youtube.

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OddNotion

09/28/10 at 10:37 am

@inaka_rob:
I sincerely doubt you function well as a teacher with that kind of atrocious attitude. Your lack of humor and judgmental nature must make for an absolutely terrible learning experience. Do you call your students "dumb" and "immature" as well? Sounds to me like the pot is calling the kettle black.

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Delkomatic

09/28/10 at 10:44 am

@kryo
I have to agree he was just having a fun time making a little joke comment. Get a life inaka seriously and i hope it is alien farts cuz if its i am coming back to this post to simple say HA in my next post you tool. Go smoke a joint and chill.

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