TY - JOUR
T1 - Martian dust storm impact on atmospheric H2O and D/H observed by ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter
AU - ACS Science Team
AU - NOMAD Science Team
AU - Vandaele, Ann Carine
AU - Korablev, Oleg
AU - Daerden, Frank
AU - Aoki, Shohei
AU - Thomas, Ian R.
AU - Altieri, Francesca
AU - López-Valverde, Miguel
AU - Villanueva, Geronimo
AU - Liuzzi, Giuliano
AU - Smith, Michael D.
AU - Erwin, Justin T.
AU - Trompet, Loïc
AU - Fedorova, Anna A.
AU - Montmessin, Franck
AU - Trokhimovskiy, Alexander
AU - Belyaev, Denis A.
AU - Ignatiev, Nikolay I.
AU - Luginin, Mikhail
AU - Olsen, Kevin S.
AU - Baggio, Lucio
AU - Alday, Juan
AU - Bertaux, Jean Loup
AU - Betsis, Daria
AU - Bolsée, David
AU - Clancy, R. Todd
AU - Cloutis, Edward
AU - Depiesse, Cédric
AU - Funke, Bernd
AU - Garcia-Comas, Maia
AU - Gérard, Jean Claude
AU - Giuranna, Marco
AU - Gonzalez-Galindo, Francisco
AU - Grigoriev, Alexey V.
AU - Ivanov, Yuriy S.
AU - Kaminski, Jacek
AU - Karatekin, Ozgur
AU - Lefèvre, Franck
AU - Lewis, Stephen
AU - López-Puertas, Manuel
AU - Mahieux, Arnaud
AU - Maslov, Igor
AU - Mason, Jon
AU - Mumma, Michael J.
AU - Neary, Lori
AU - Neefs, Eddy
AU - Patrakeev, Andrey
AU - Patsaev, Dmitry
AU - Ristic, Bojan
AU - Teanby, Nicholas A.
AU - Teanby, Nicholas A.
PY - 2019/4/25
Y1 - 2019/4/25
N2 -
Global dust storms on Mars are rare
1,2
but can affect the Martian atmosphere for several months. They can cause changes in atmospheric dynamics and inflation of the atmosphere
3
, primarily owing to solar heating of the dust
3
. In turn, changes in atmospheric dynamics can affect the distribution of atmospheric water vapour, with potential implications for the atmospheric photochemistry and climate on Mars
4
. Recent observations of the water vapour abundance in the Martian atmosphere during dust storm conditions revealed a high-altitude increase in atmospheric water vapour that was more pronounced at high northern latitudes
5,6
, as well as a decrease in the water column at low latitudes
7,8
. Here we present concurrent, high-resolution measurements of dust, water and semiheavy water (HDO) at the onset of a global dust storm, obtained by the NOMAD and ACS instruments onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. We report the vertical distribution of the HDO/H
2
O ratio (D/H) from the planetary boundary layer up to an altitude of 80 kilometres. Our findings suggest that before the onset of the dust storm, HDO abundances were reduced to levels below detectability at altitudes above 40 kilometres. This decrease in HDO coincided with the presence of water-ice clouds. During the storm, an increase in the abundance of H
2
O and HDO was observed at altitudes between 40 and 80 kilometres. We propose that these increased abundances may be the result of warmer temperatures during the dust storm causing stronger atmospheric circulation and preventing ice cloud formation, which may confine water vapour to lower altitudes through gravitational fall and subsequent sublimation of ice crystals
3
. The observed changes in H
2
O and HDO abundance occurred within a few days during the development of the dust storm, suggesting a fast impact of dust storms on the Martian atmosphere.
AB -
Global dust storms on Mars are rare
1,2
but can affect the Martian atmosphere for several months. They can cause changes in atmospheric dynamics and inflation of the atmosphere
3
, primarily owing to solar heating of the dust
3
. In turn, changes in atmospheric dynamics can affect the distribution of atmospheric water vapour, with potential implications for the atmospheric photochemistry and climate on Mars
4
. Recent observations of the water vapour abundance in the Martian atmosphere during dust storm conditions revealed a high-altitude increase in atmospheric water vapour that was more pronounced at high northern latitudes
5,6
, as well as a decrease in the water column at low latitudes
7,8
. Here we present concurrent, high-resolution measurements of dust, water and semiheavy water (HDO) at the onset of a global dust storm, obtained by the NOMAD and ACS instruments onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. We report the vertical distribution of the HDO/H
2
O ratio (D/H) from the planetary boundary layer up to an altitude of 80 kilometres. Our findings suggest that before the onset of the dust storm, HDO abundances were reduced to levels below detectability at altitudes above 40 kilometres. This decrease in HDO coincided with the presence of water-ice clouds. During the storm, an increase in the abundance of H
2
O and HDO was observed at altitudes between 40 and 80 kilometres. We propose that these increased abundances may be the result of warmer temperatures during the dust storm causing stronger atmospheric circulation and preventing ice cloud formation, which may confine water vapour to lower altitudes through gravitational fall and subsequent sublimation of ice crystals
3
. The observed changes in H
2
O and HDO abundance occurred within a few days during the development of the dust storm, suggesting a fast impact of dust storms on the Martian atmosphere.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85064267043&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41586-019-1097-3
DO - 10.1038/s41586-019-1097-3
M3 - Comment/debate (Academic Journal)
C2 - 30971830
AN - SCOPUS:85064267043
VL - 568
SP - 521
EP - 525
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
SN - 0028-0836
IS - 7753
ER -