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Mars General Circulation Model
Climate model - deflation
Mars general circulation model, NASA
The Mars general circulation model (MGCM) is the result of a research project by
NASA to understand the nature of the general circulation of the
atmosphere of Mars, how that circulation is driven and how it affects the
climate of Mars in the long term.
How it works
Mars
climate simulation models date as far back as the
Viking missions to
Mars. Most Mars climate simulation models were written by individual researchers that were never reused or open-sourced. By the 1990s the need for a unified model codebase came into being, due to the general impact of the internet on climate modelling and research. This current Mars climate simulation model has its origins with the internet era.
This Mars climate model is a complex 3-dimensional (height, latitude, longitude) model, which represents the processes of atmospheric heating by gases and ground-air heat transfer, as well as large-scale atmospheric motions.[1]
The current model has not been modified for use with distributed computing systems like
BOINC.
Methane on Mars
The source of Mars methane is unknown; its detection is shown here
Curiosity rover detected a cyclical seasonal variation in
atmospheric methane
The
Martian atmosphere contains 10 nmol/
mol methane (CH4).[2] In 2014, NASA reported that the Curiosity rover detected a tenfold increase ('spike') in methane in the atmosphere around it in late 2013 and early 2014. Four measurements taken over two months in this period averaged 7.2 ppb, implying that Mars is episodically producing or releasing methane from an unknown source.[3] Before and after that, readings averaged around one-tenth that level.[4][5][3] On 7 June 2018, NASA announced a cyclical seasonal variation in the background level of atmospheric methane.[6][7][8]
The principal candidates for the origin of Mars' methane include non-biological processes such as
water-rock reactions,
radiolysis of water, and
pyrite formation, all of which produce
H2 that could then generate methane and other hydrocarbons via
Fischer–Tropsch synthesis with
CO and CO2.[9] It has also been shown that methane could be produced by a process involving water, carbon dioxide, and the mineral
olivine, which is known to be common on Mars.[10]
Living
microorganisms, such as
methanogens, are another possible source, but no evidence for the presence of such organisms has been found on Mars.[11][12][13]
^Krasnopolsky, Vladimir A.; Maillard, Jean Pierre; Owen, Tobias C. (December 2004). "Detection of methane in the martian atmosphere: evidence for life?". Icarus. 172 (2): 537–547.
Bibcode:
2004Icar..172..537K.
doi:
10.1016/j.icarus.2004.07.004.