Update on Mars' atmosphere, Media briefing on NASA Jan 15th |
Update on Mars' atmosphere, Media briefing on NASA Jan 15th |
Jan 12 2009, 06:01 PM
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
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Jan 12 2009, 10:04 PM
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
Here's some handy numbers (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_volcano)
On Earth, mud volcanoes are estimated to belch out about 2E11 - 1E14 m3 methane per year (at STP). = 8.79E12 - 5.49E15 mol CH4 = 141E12 - 88E15 g CH4. (The estimated amounts vary wildly, the numbers above are at the high end of the range. It's about 5-10% of the total methane output, most being biogenic). What I didn't realize is that the main route for destruction of methane in Earth's atmosphere is reaction with hydroxyl radical in the upper atmosphere. Would this be a similar process for removal of methane from the Martian atmosphere, or would direct photolysis (CH4-->CH3. + H.) be operative? Or would dust grains be a catalytic surface? Here's a handy link on tropospheric oxidizing processes on Earth: http://www.atmosp.physics.utoronto.ca/peop...0Oxidation%20of -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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