Strong Localized Pumping of Water Vapor to High Altitudes on Mars During the Perihelion Season
Adrián Brines, M. Á. López‐Valverde, B. Funke, Francisco González‐Galindo, Shohei Aoki, Gerónimo Villanueva, James Holmes, Denis Belyaev, Giuliano Liuzzi, Ian Thomas, Justin Erwin, U. Grabowski, F. Forget, J. J. Lopez‐Moreno, J. Rodriguez‐Gomez, Frank Daerden, Loïc Trompet, Bojan Ristic, Manish Patel, G. Bellucci, Ann Carine Vandaele
Abstract
Abstract Here we present water vapor vertical profiles observed with the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter/Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery instrument during the perihelion and Southern summer solstice season ( L S = 240°–300°) in three consecutive Martian Years 34, 35, and 36. We show the detailed latitudinal distribution of H 2 O at tangent altitudes from 10 to 120 km, revealing a vertical plume at 60°S–50°S injecting H 2 O upward, reaching abundance of about 50 ppmv at 100 km. We have observed this event repeatedly in the three Martian years analyzed, appearing at L S = 260°–280° and showing inter‐annual variations in the magnitude and timing due to long term effects of the Martian Year 34 Global Dust Storm. We provide a rough estimate of projected hydrogen escape of 3.2 × 10 9 cm −2 s −1 associated to these plumes, adding further evidence of the key role played by the perihelion season in the long term evolution of the planet's climate.