Publication Date:
2011-10-01
Description:
The vertical distribution of water vapor is key to the study of Mars' hydrological cycle. To date, it has been explored mainly through global climate models because of a lack of direct measurements. However, these models assume the absence of supersaturation in the atmosphere of Mars. Here, we report observations made using the SPICAM (Spectroscopy for the Investigation of the Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Mars) instrument onboard Mars Express that provide evidence of the frequent presence of water vapor in excess of saturation, by an amount far surpassing that encountered in Earth's atmosphere. This result contradicts the widespread assumption that atmospheric water on Mars cannot exist in a supersaturated state, directly affecting our long-term representation of water transport, accumulation, escape, and chemistry on a global scale.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Maltagliati, L -- Montmessin, F -- Fedorova, A -- Korablev, O -- Forget, F -- Bertaux, J-L -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2011 Sep 30;333(6051):1868-71. doi: 10.1126/science.1207957.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), 78280 Guyancourt, France. luca.maltagliati@latmos.ipsl.fr〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21960630" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Atmosphere
;
Extraterrestrial Environment
;
*Mars
;
Spacecraft
;
Spectrum Analysis
;
*Steam
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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