The Enigma of Methane on Mars

Franck Lefèvre (1)

1 PLANETO - LATMOS

Between 2004 and 2012, four independent groups reported detections of low levels (10–60 ppbv) of methane on Mars. If true, these constitute the first observations of a potential biosignature on that planet and would be an important finding and addition to the inventory of minor species in its atmosphere. However, these claims for the presence of methane have been highly controversial. In 2014, the most robust search for methane on Mars was performed by the rover Curiosity. The latest measurements by Curiosity indicate a background CH4 level of 0.2–0.7 ppbv, except during a two-month period between November 2013 and January 2014, when high mixing ratios of around 7 ppbv were observed. These observations immediately raise the question of the origin of methane on Mars, but also pose fundamental challenges to our current understanding of Martian atmospheric physics and chemistry.

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]

Franck Lefèvre. The Enigma of Methane on Mars. Barbara CavalazziFrances Westall (eds). Biosignatures for Astrobiology, Springer, pp.253-266, 2018, 978-3-319-96174-3. ⟨10.1007/978-3-319-96175-0_12⟩. ⟨insu-01886629⟩