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Mars: Water Could Disappear Faster Than Expected

posted by janrinok on Monday January 13 2020, @08:13AM   Printer-friendly
from the need-some-of-our-weather dept.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:

Mars: Water could disappear faster than expected:

The small red planet is losing water more quickly than what theory as well as past observations would suggest.

The gradual disappearance of water (H2O) occurs in the upper atmosphere of Mars: sunlight and chemistry disassociate water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen atoms that the weak gravity of Mars cannot prevent from escaping into space. An international research teamthey led partly by CNRS researcher Franck Montmessin, has just revealed that water vapour is accumulating in large quantities and unexpected proportions at an altitude of over 80 km in the Martian atmosphere.

Measurements showed that large atmospheric pockets are even in a state of supersaturation, with the atmosphere containing 10 to 100 times more water vapour than its temperature should theoretically allow. With the observed supersaturation rates, the capacity of water to escape would greatly increase during certain seasons.

Journal Reference:

Anna A. Fedorova, Franck Montmessin, Oleg Korablev, Mikhail Luginin, Alexander Trokhimovskiy, Denis A. Belyaev, Nikolay I. Ignatiev, Franck Lefèvre, Juan Alday, Patrick G. J. Irwin, Kevin S. Olsen, Jean-Loup Bertaux, Ehouarn Millour, Anni Määttänen, Alexey Shakun, Alexey V. Grigoriev, Andrey Patrakeev, Svyatoslav Korsa, Nikita Kokonkov, Lucio Baggio, Francois Forget, Colin F. Wilson. Stormy water on Mars: The distribution and saturation of atmospheric water during the dusty season. Science, 2020; eaay9522 DOI: 10.1126/science.aay9522

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 13 2020, @08:19AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 13 2020, @08:19AM (#942669)

    In His magnanimity, Musky will launch same hundred of water tanks to store that atmospheric water, if you pray strong enough.
    He has done the miracle of launching a car into space already, nothing can stop His will.

  • (Score: 2) by legont on Monday January 13 2020, @11:15AM

    by legont (4179) on Monday January 13 2020, @11:15AM (#942690)

    This water splitting is his invention to begin with - a green tech to power his original hydrogen car company.

    --
    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday January 13 2020, @12:48PM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Monday January 13 2020, @12:48PM (#942702) Journal

    Mars has tolerated millions or billions of years of being a barren wasteland. Another century or two won't make much of a difference. But The Musky One might be able to rescue a few extra kilograms of gases with his accelerated colonization program.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Monday January 13 2020, @02:07PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 13 2020, @02:07PM (#942724) Journal

      The Musky One might be able to rescue a few extra kilograms of gases with his accelerated colonization program.

      Even more, if he manages to die on Mars just not on impact [vox.com], he may actually add some kilos of gasses by the (accelerated?) use of his colon.

      (grin)

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford