Journal article
Transient HCl in the atmosphere of Mars
- Abstract:
- A major quest in Mars' exploration has been the hunt for atmospheric gases, potentially unveiling ongoing activity of geophysical or biological origin. Here, we report the first detection of a halogen gas, HCl, which could, in theory, originate from contemporary volcanic degassing or chlorine released from gas-solid reactions. Our detections made at ~3.2 to 3.8 μm with the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite and confirmed with Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery instruments onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, reveal widely distributed HCl in the 1- to 4-ppbv range, 20 times greater than previously reported upper limits. HCl increased during the 2018 global dust storm and declined soon after its end, pointing to the exchange between the dust and the atmosphere. Understanding the origin and variability of HCl shall constitute a major advance in our appraisal of martian geo- and photochemistry.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, 1.5MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1126/sciadv.abe4386
Authors
- Publisher:
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Journal:
- Science Advances More from this journal
- Volume:
- 7
- Issue:
- 7
- Article number:
- eabe4386
- Publication date:
- 2021-02-10
- Acceptance date:
- 2020-12-28
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
2375-2548
- Pmid:
-
33568485
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1161511
- Local pid:
-
pubs:1161511
- Deposit date:
-
2021-04-19
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Korablev et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2021
- Rights statement:
- ©2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.
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