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Observation of the Mars O2 visible nightglow by the NOMAD spectrometer onboard the Trace Gas Orbiter
Vandaele, A. C.; Daerden, F.; Thomas, I. R. +9 more
On Mars, atomic oxygen controls the carbon dioxide radiative cooling of the upper atmosphere and the presence of an ozone layer near the poles. To remotely probe meridional transport of O atoms from the summer to the winter hemisphere and the descending flow in the winter polar regions, the O2 Herzberg II atmospheric emission could be u…
Photochemical depletion of heavy CO isotopes in the Martian atmosphere
Montmessin, Franck; Belyaev, Denis A.; Fedorova, Anna A. +12 more
The atmosphere of Mars is enriched in heavy isotopes with respect to Earth as a result of the escape of the atmosphere to space over billions of years. Estimating this enrichment requires a rigorous understanding of all atmospheric processes that contribute to the evolution of isotopic ratios between the lower and upper atmosphere, where escape pr…
Isotopic fractionation of water and its photolytic products in the atmosphere of Mars
Montmessin, Franck; Belyaev, Denis A.; Fedorova, Anna A. +13 more
The current Martian atmosphere is about five times more enriched in deuterium than Earth's, providing direct testimony that Mars hosted vastly more water in its early youth than nowadays. Estimates of the total amount of water lost to space from the current mean D/H value depend on a rigorous appraisal of the relative escape between deuterated and…
Detection of green line emission in the dayside atmosphere of Mars from NOMAD-TGO observations
Aoki, S.; Vandaele, A. C.; Daerden, F. +13 more
The oxygen emission at 557.7 nm is a ubiquitous component of the spectrum of the terrestrial polar aurora and the reason for its usual green colour1. It is also observed as a thin layer of glow surrounding the Earth near 90 km altitude in the dayside atmosphere2,3 but it has so far eluded detection in other planets. Here we r…