Bob Yirka is a writer for Phys.org.
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The loss of surface water on Mars can not be fully explained by upper atmospheric interactions with solar wind, according to a Perspective piece published in the journal Science. In his paper, he suggests that three other factors need to be taken into account as well.
The surface of Mars used to have a lot of water, but it was lost to space in the form of hydrogen over the course of billions of years. Water was torn apart by sunlight in the lower Martian atmosphere, which resulted in the hydrogen from the water drifting off into space. Yiit suggests that there is not enough evidence to suggest that the water loss was easy.
Recent experiments show that water in the Martian atmosphere could have been carried into the upper atmosphere, where it would have been torn apart before drifting into space. The new evidence shows that the water must have been pushed into the upper atmosphere from the lower atmosphere. Yiit thinks it could have been a combination of things.
Yiit says that recent evidence from Mars probes shows that water is still escaping into space, and that it happens mostly during the Mars summer when the planet also experiences global dust storms. He suggests that dust storms could have played a role in circulating hydrogen after it was split. He says that it is likely that upward-propagating gravity waves played a role in pushing water upward.
Yiit suggests that the loss of surface water on Mars can't be fully explained without taking into account the factors in the upper and lower atmosphere.
There is more information about the water escape and internal waves. There is a science.abg5893
Science journal information.
The Science X Network will be launched in 2021.
A planetary scientist suggests that the loss of water to space on Mars may be tied to lower atmospheric factors.
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